Delightfully Awkward
by ZeldaAddict42
Summary: So titled because that's how my stories for this pairing always seem to turn out. 30 Pieces Set 4 with Zoro x Nami.
1. Not Entirely What It Looks Like, T

**Title:** Not Entirely What It Looks Like  
**Theme:** #15 Dial  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 1152  
**Rating:** I'm just gonna give a T as overkill.  
**Warnings:** Slightly creepy/disturbing behavior? Also some very mild swearing.  
**Disclaimer(s):** Eiichiro Oda is a very lucky and brilliantly creative man, and he wrote these characters first. I just enjoy making them do odd things for my own amusement.

Zoro found the dial sitting on the edge of the sink in the bathroom. He figured Usopp had forgotten it there, but the sniper told him all his own dials were accounted for.

"What kind is this one anyway?" Zoro wondered.

Usopp scrutinized the shell for a moment. "That's a flavor dial," he finally concluded.

Zoro knew he should just put it back; curiosity killed the cat after all! He couldn't help but wonder what scent someone had taken the trouble to preserve. Knowing how Usopp had used _his_, he gave the apex of the shell a tiny cautious tap. The opening released the barest hint of something both fruity and floral.

He hadn't gotten a good enough whiff to really identify it, but that smell was awfully familiar! Not wanting to be caught huffing a seashell, Zoro hurriedly gave the dial a slightly firmer tap and took a quick, deep breath, eyes closed so he could focus on the task more clearly.

The scent was warm and pungent with a hint of citrus. His eyes snapped back open. He knew why the smell was so familiar now; it was Nami's perfume!

Something was a little off about it, though. The smell wasn't exactly how he remembered it, and he just couldn't figure it out. Zoro hated leaving problems unsolved, but this problem might get him killed because he could only think of one way determine the difference; he needed a sniff from the source for comparison.

Obviously, he couldn't just walk up to the navigator and say, "Hey, Nami, mind if I smell you?" That was asking for serious physical injury and probably a hefty fee.

There was really no way to do it casually, either. Sure, it was possible to sit next to her at dinner or something, but unless she'd just reapplied for some reason, he'd have to seriously invade her personal space, and he was willing to bet either she or someone else would notice.

Zoro had never been any good at bluffing, but he was seriously considering trying to make up some excuse for asking Nami about her perfume when he finally saw an opportunity. Nami had nodded off while tanning, lying face down in her lounge chair, and for once, no one else was on deck.

Zoro crept slowly toward her across the deck. He froze and held his breath as she suddenly lifted her head, but it was only to turn her face to the other side. Now she was facing away from him.

He found himself holding his breath again as he stood over her. He leaned down, bringing his face as close to the nape of her neck as he dared, and breathed deeply.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't call you a creepy pervert and kick you somewhere sensitive."

Zoro choked and pulled back so fast that he threw off his balance and landed hard on his back, knocking the wind out of himself. He lay there, gasping like a fish out of water as Nami stood to glare down at him ominously.

When he was finally able to take in a full breath, he wheezed, "I know this looks bad."

"No, _really?_" Nami's voice was oozing sarcasm.

"I just needed to smell your perfume, honest!"

"Seriously?" Nami quirked one eyebrow. "That's the best excuse you can come up with?"

"It's the _truth!_ I found this dial," he explained, retrieving the shell from his haramaki and holding it out in one hand, "and I recognized the smell, but it was different." Now that he said it out loud, it _did_ sound horribly lame!

"You decided to _keep_ it?" Nami was looking decidedly disturbed again. "I guess that's vaguely flattering in a stalker kind of way..."

"What?" Zoro's eyes widened. "No! At first I thought it might be Usopp's, but he said it wasn't! After I smelled it, I got caught up in trying to figure out why it didn't smell right, and I guess I just sort of forgot I was carrying it around." Now he sounded like a stalker _and_ an idiot! He definitely should have just put it back.

"Calm down!" Nami rolled her eyes. "I'm going to let you off the hook on this for two reasons; firstly, this isn't like your normal behavior at all, so it probably won't happen again, and secondly, _I'm_ the one who left that dial in the bathroom, and I should have expected it would end badly."

Zoro's jaw dropped. "You knew this dial was yours the _whole time_, and you let me keep babbling and making it _worse?_"

"Well, yeah." Nami smirked and snatched the flavor dial from Zoro's numb fingers. "Your appalled face is _hilarious!_ This shocked one's not bad, either."

"Why the hell did you leave it there in the first place?"

"My surveying room is right below the bathroom; I was hoping you guys would take a hint and freshen the air a little before leaving because some of you seriously reek!" Nami made a suitably disgusted face. "I honestly don't know what Franky was thinking when he planned that part of the layout."

"Whatever," Zoro grumbled, turning to leave.

"Did you figure it out?" Nami's unexpected question stopped him in his tracks. "What the difference was?"

"No."

"You're a horrible liar, and I'm seriously reconsidering charging you," she threatened.

"It was missing _your_ smell," Zoro grudgingly admitted. "The dial was just straight perfume, and usually, I can also smell _you._ Happy now?"

"Are you implying that I stink?" Nami asked with a frown.

"No." Zoro shrugged. "You just smell like you; it's like the ocean breeze, your mikan trees, ink, parchment, and, well, _you._ You smell fine with or without the perfume."

"Really?" Nami pondered this for a moment. "Maybe I'll tone it down on the perfume for a while; it _is_ expensive after all."

"Suit yourself."

"You sure you don't want to take this with you?" Nami teased, waving the dial at Zoro. "You might miss the smell. I'm sure we could agree on a reasonable fee."

"Ha ha." Only Luffy or Chopper could have missed the sarcasm. "Thanks, but no thanks." She'd probably never let him live this down, but if she thought she could get him to pay for that dial, she'd be waiting a long time. The perfume held no attraction by itself-not that he'd ever admit it.


	2. Best Laid Plans, T

**Title:** Best Laid Plans  
**Theme:** Set 4 #13 Gold  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 971  
**Rating:** Overkill T again  
**Warnings:** Naughtiness with stick figures, probably out of character behavior (but I don't care), and only a loose connection to the theme.  
**Disclaimer:** Oda usually has his characters doing meaningful things and being awesome, which is why he is so successful; I just like to play with other people's toys.

The crew had split up to explore a system of caves on an uninhabited island. Nami made everyone swear to bring back any treasure they might find-for the good of the entire crew, of course.

The navigator was beginning to think that the caves might not have been as inviting a treasure hiding location as she'd hoped when she spotted a chest across a rather wide chasm. She was fairly certain she couldn't jump it, but she spotted a tree root that had worked it's way through a crack in the ceiling about halfway across the gap.

She had some rope in her pack; she tied one end around a rock and held the other end firmly under one foot. It took a couple of tries, but she managed to get the rope over the root and relatively secured in place. Leaning back with all her weight didn't snap the root, but it did bend a bit, and the soil around the ends shifted rather ominously; it didn't look like the root was likely to hold both her and the chest, especially if it was full of gold and jewels like she hoped.

She'd taken a stick away from Luffy on the hike up after he'd almost taken out one of Usopp's eyes by accident, and she pulled the item from her pack and squatted to draw a diagram on the dirt floor. Provided that the ledge on the other side was at about the same height and that the root was really about halfway between, she ought to be able to swing across, tie the rope's end around the chest, and send it back across. She added a stick figure to the diagram, representing herself.

"That's not gonna work." Zoro's voice surprised her; she hadn't heard him approaching from behind because she was so engrossed in developing her plan.

"How'd you get here? Didn't you start out going the opposite direction from me?" she asked, but then she rolled her eyes. "Wait, this is _you_ we're talking about." He shrugged. "Anyway, I don't see why it won't work. The weight of the chest ought to bring it to a stop on this side."

"Yeah, but then how do _you_ get back across?"

Nami blinked at her diagram. She'd been so intent on getting the chest across that she'd completely forgotten about how she'd get back herself! Of course, now that Zoro was here...

"Not a problem." She drew another stick figure on the picture. "If I have someone to help me, they can push the rope back across to me."

"Who exactly is supposed to be helping you because that guy can't possibly be me; he's too skinny."

"It's a _stick figure_, smarty pants, and we both know you wouldn't just abandon me here." She made a few adjustments to the Zoro figure. "Better?"

"Now he looks all lumpy..."

"Well _excuse_ me if it's hard to draw muscles on a stick man!"

"Yours doesn't look much like you, either." Zoro snatched the stick from Nami's hand and drew some hair on the Nami figure and then paused with the tip of the stick above the drawing's chest.

"Don't even _think_ about it!" Nami threatened with a steely glare, but Zoro simply smirked and deliberately drew two circles. "How _dare_ you-actually, that's pretty proportionally accurate," Nami conceded. "How come she's _naked?_" she countered, just to wipe the smug look off the swordsman's face.

"She is _not_ naked!"

"I don't see any clothes."

"Like you said earlier, they're _stick figures!_ Besides, if she's naked, so is he."

"If he's naked too," Nami mused impishly as she snagged the stick again, "there's something missing."

"You wouldn't!" Zoro looked genuinely appalled.

"Of course," Nami teased, "I'll have to make an educated guess, since I don't have the advantage of having seen you naked like you did."

"I never saw you naked!" Zoro argued.

"Sure you did." Nami thought back to the "happiness punch" at the Alubarna palace baths and realized Zoro actually hadn't. "Maybe you didn't," she admitted with a shrug, "but I charged you for it."

"Figures." The swordsman made a grab for the stick, but Nami pulled it out of his reach.

"Where was I?" She made as if to add to the Zoro stick figure, but he managed to snatch the stick away at the last minute.

"You were about to go over and get that chest."

"You're no fun."

She swung across the chasm and was overjoyed to find that the chest, judging by the weight, still had something in it. She tied the rope around it and pushed it back across. Unfortunately, halfway across, the boards in the bottom of the chest, which had rotted in the dank cave, gave way, and Nami watched in horror as the glittering contents of the chest tumbled into the ravine.

When she arrived back at the other side, thoroughly dejected, Zoro offered her a handful of gold coins.

"These managed to make it across."

"Oh, just keep them!" Nami huffed sulkily and viciously rubbed out the drawing with her foot. "Call it a refund."

"Nah," Zoro insisted, pressing the coins into her palm, "you earned them. We'll just say you owe me one." Then he had the audacity to wink!

"You're going to wish you hadn't said that." Nami grinned evilly before walking away.

Zoro didn't doubt for a minute that he _would_, but it might just be worth it!


	3. Not So Relaxing, High T to Mild M

**Title:** Not So Relaxing  
**Theme:** Set 4 #2 Springs  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 818  
**Rating:** I could probably get away with a PG-13, but lets go with R just for safety's sake.  
**Warnings:** Allusions to bodily parts and the usual awkwardness. This sort of thing is pretty overdone, but _I_ hadn't yet, so why not?  
**Disclaimer(s):** I think it's for the greater good that I do not own these characters, but I do love them. Oda's a lucky guy.  
**A/N:** This makes a reference to "Best Laid Plans."

Nami hummed to herself as she picked her way up a rocky slope. She'd spent most of the afternoon surveying this small island, and now she was looking forward to a nice relaxing soak in the natural hot springs just up the hill.

She was a little surprised to find Zoro already there, but he'd probably been training all day and had the same thought she did. The springs were fairly large; there was no reason they couldn't share.

She pulled off her tee shirt and shorts to reveal the bikini she'd worn underneath. She'd stopped by the ship first to change into it with the springs in mind.

She moaned contentedly as the luxurious warmth of the water slowly enveloped her as she eased herself down onto a rocky shelf at the edge of the spring.

"This feels _so_ nice!" She stretched her arms over her head and moaned again. "I think I could stay in here for hours."

Zoro didn't say anything for a long time, and she'd almost forgotten he was there until he said, "You're not going to, right?"

"Why not?" she countered. "It's not like I have to be anywhere. What's it to you? You're free to leave any time."

"Of course I could," Zoro agreed, but he didn't budge an inch. In fact, he looked very tense and uncomfortable, which was rather strange.

"So, what's the problem?"

"There's no problem," he paused, clearly trying to come up with a reason, "but if you stay here too long, you'll get all... pruney."

Nami rolled her eyes at him before closing them and laying her head back. She sighed and let herself relax, deciding to ignore whatever weird issues Zoro was having at the moment. She could feel herself starting to drift into that state halfway between being asleep and awake.

The springs were so peaceful and quiet, Nami's own breathing almost sounded loud after a while. The silence was so complete, she couldn't help but notice an odd sound; it was a muted sloshing, like someone was trying to move stealthily through the water. She opened her eyes to find that Zoro had moved around the edge of the pool and was reaching toward his discarded pile of clothing. Once he noticed she was watching, he hastily pulled his arm back and returned to his former position across from her.

"What now?" she asked, mildly annoyed.

"I, uh, was gonna go, but I didn't want to disturb you."

"It's fine; go ahead." He made no move to continue retrieving his clothing. "I wasn't really sleeping, so you don't have to be quiet."

"I changed my mind," he mumbled, slouching down further in the water.

He didn't look at all happy. Whatever his problem was, it was ruining Nami's relaxing soak. She could always come back later, when he _wasn't_ here. She stood and allowed herself to drip dry a bit before she began to gather her belongings. She glanced over to Zoro's clothing pile and her eyes widened before a sly smirk flashed across her features.

"You're nude." It was statement of fact.

Nami wasn't a doctor, but she was fairly certain that if Zoro were to blush any more than he currently was, he'd be in danger of bursting a blood vessel. It was almost cute.

"I didn't think anyone else was going to come up here," he defended himself, "and I didn't feel like walking back down to the ship in wet underwear."

"You could have just said something, you know."

"I thought you'd be angry, but it seems like you just think it's funny..."

"Oh, it _is_ funny." She laughed, enjoying Zoro's sulky glare. "By the way, I wasn't looking when I first got here, and I didn't notice while I was sitting down, but this water is crystal clear."

She was wrong; Zoro _could_ blush more.

"I guess I owe you _two,_" she teased.

As she turned around to pick up her clothes, her foot slipped on a wet patch of rock and she fell back into the spring. She bobbed back up, spluttering and embarrassed, to find Zoro staring at her.

"One and a half," he said. She wasn't sure what he was talking about until she saw her bikini top float by; it had somehow come off during her fall.

* * *

Robin glanced up from her book as Zoro and Nami stepped onto the deck of the ship. Their expressions were completely blank.

"How were the springs?"

The two looked at each other for a moment and then quickly away.

"Quiet," she said.

"Boring," he remarked at the same time, and then they walked off in opposite directions.

Robin smiled to herself and went back to her reading.


	4. Whiling Away the Hours, T

**Title:** Whiling Away the Hours  
**Theme:** Set 4 #20 Iron (In a rather vague way.)  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 1627  
**Rating:** T  
**Warnings:** Mild swearing and rampant, weird speculation. (Mihawk's an odd duck; for all I know, some of this is true.) Also, mild spoilers for post first Saobody visit.  
**Disclaimer(s):** Oda deserves all rights to these characters and the setting, since he did such a fantastic job in creating them.  
**A/N:** This is the first of what will be a short series of connected pieces I call "Zoro Needs a Hobby."

Nami would never admit it, especially after all the abuse she heaped on the younger guys for complaining about the very same thing, but she was _bored!_ A stretch of bad weather had kept her inside enough that she had actually mostly caught up in her mapmaking. After the rainy weather, conditions had been quite stable, and she only had to monitor the log pose occasionally. However, it wasn't quite sunny enough for sunbathing, and if she gave her mikan trees any more attention she would be in danger of doing more harm than good!

As a last resort, she started working the crossword puzzles from the newspapers she received weekly. So far, she was still less than halfway through the first puzzle and was only succeeding in making herself feel stupid.

She mumbled to herself under her breath and tapped the edge of her desk with her pencil while she thought. Apparently, it was an annoying habit; a hand sprouted from the desktop and gently halted the motion mid-tap.

"I hate to interrupt you," Robin remarked without glancing up from her reading, "but that's quite distracting."

"Sorry, Robin." Nami sighed and gathered up her pencil and a few papers. "I'll go somewhere else, I guess."

Sanji was concocting some kind of secret, surprise dish in the galley, so she couldn't go there, and everywhere else she tried to go, the other occupants of the ship were even _more_ distracting! Franky and Brook were composing songs together in the aquarium bar, and the boys were playing some combination of tag and hide and seek that seemed to range over the rest of the ship, including her surveying room and the spa, but not the gym. When she asked why, they told her Zoro was training.

She'd seen Zoro train with distractions before, so she hoped he might not even notice she was there. The worst that could happen was that he'd kick her out of the gym, and her search for a spot to work her puzzle in peace would continue.

Nami fully expected to find her crew mate in the middle of some ridiculously high number of reps, but Zoro was just standing there, staring at his weights. She figured he was probably deciding which apparatus to use for his ridiculous number of reps.

"Do you mind if I sit up here to work on my crossword puzzle?"

"Go ahead." He shrugged. "You don't have to ask my permission; this is everyone's space."

Zoro finally settled on doing squats under a massive barbell, and Nami curled up on the padded bench around the outside of the room and was soon absorbed in her puzzle. She found herself coming up blank on one clue.

"Peak," she mumbled. "Four letters long and starts with 'a,' but it's not 'apex' because then that down clue would start 'bx...'"

"Acme."

Nami jumped. She'd been so focused, she didn't notice Zoro walk up behind her and lean over her shoulder. He looked at her pointedly, and she filled in the letters. "That's it! How in the world do you know that?"

"Did I ever tell you where Kuma sent me?"

This seemed like a very random change of subject, but Nami nodded. "Mihawk's island, right?"

"Yeah, well, it turns out that island is where he goes when he wants to 'get away from it all' and relax. So there I was, basically invading his personal sanctuary and begging him to train me. I still have no clue why he agreed, but he eventually did.

"He told me I had to heal first, so I wasn't allowed to do anything physical. Apparently, it really annoyed him to have me just sitting there staring at him. When I told him I wasn't much of a reader, he started giving me the puzzles from the paper. Sort of a 'take this, sit over there, shut up, and don't bother me' kind of a deal.

"He kept giving me this look like it was really pathetically sad that I have no hobbies and spend all my time training or napping."

"And Mihawk _does?_ Like what?" Nami had never thought about it, but she supposed it only made sense.

"He reads, both books and the paper; his favorite section is the obituaries."

"Creepy."

Zoro shrugged. "Maybe a little, I suppose. He also has a pretty nice rock garden."

"A _rock_ garden?"

"He's not there very often, so a traditional garden would either die or get overgrown," Zoro explained. "He collects spoons, too. You know, those little ones with the decorative handles; he says he likes them because they don't take up much space, and he prefers to travel light."

Nami allowed herself a moment to imagine Mihawk lounging in a recliner with a newspaper open to the obituaries, sitting in front of a window overlooking a rock garden and next to a cabinet full of spoons as Zoro sat in a corner puzzling over a crossword. Surely, the reality had been much less ridiculous!

"So, you did a lot of puzzles, then?"

Zoro made a face. "A _lot_ of puzzles! They're okay, but it kind of bites if you get stuck on a clue and no one will help you; Mihawk hated to be interrupted while reading, and Perona told me puzzles weren't 'cute.' I know my way around a dictionary and a thesaurus, though."

Nami noticed he still had a hand on the barbell. "Sorry; it looks like I _am_ distracting you." That was extremely odd. She'd seen Zoro keep training through spontaneous blizzards, a game of tag gone out of control, and even a bored, whining Luffy clinging to one of his legs without so much as blinking!

"It's not your fault. Lately, I just can't seem to focus like I usually do," Zoro confirmed the highly irregular state of affairs.

"I'm sorry you're not enjoying your usual hobby," Nami tried to a be a little sympathetic.

"My training is _not_ a _hobby._" Apparently, she only succeeded in being offensive. "A hobby is something you do for _fun._"

"You don't enjoy it at all?"

"There is a certain satisfaction in hard work and improvement," Zoro clarified, "but it's not like I get up in the morning and think to myself, 'I think I'l go pump iron for a few hours; it'll be awesome!' I do it because I _need_ to do it. It's _work_."

"You really don't have _anything_ you do just for fun?"

"I'm pretty sure drinking and pissing off the cook don't count." Zoro let out a disgruntled huff and scowled.

"This is really bothering you isn't it?" It might almost be funny, if it weren't clearly very serious to the swordsman.

"I know it's stupid." He ran a hand through his hair. "I never cared before, but to have _Mihawk_, of all people, pity me for not having a life is ridiculous!"

"He _said_ that?"

"_No._" Zoro looked at her like she was crazy for suggesting it. "This is _Mihawk_ we're talking about; the guy only talks if he feels like he's got something important to say. He kept _looking_ at me funny, though. Now I can't help feeling like I've been neglecting part of who I am when I used to think I knew myself pretty damn well."

"Have you _tried_ finding yourself a hobby?"

Zoro shrugged. "I gave fishing a shot."

"I remember Sanji-kun mentioning something about that." She quirked an eyebrow. "So?"

"It's pretty boring; you just sit around waiting for something to happen. I honestly don't know how it holds Luffy's attention at all!"

"He can stay pretty focused if there's food involved."

"True."

Nami looked back down at her woefully still full of blanks puzzle and had an idea.

"I could _help_ you find a hobby."

"Yeah, but what's it gonna cost me?" Zoro scoffed.

"Nothing you can't afford," she teased with an impish grin. "I've been looking for something to keep myself entertained, too. I'll help you out at no monetary cost on two conditions."

"Which are?" he asked warily.

"Condition one: I may be doing this to help you out, but _I'm_ calling the shots. If I tell you to try something, you'll do it."

"Figures," he grumbled. "Bossing me around has always been one of _your_ hobbies."

"Condition two: Help me finish this stupid puzzle!"

Zoro stared at her suspiciously for a moment, mentally weighing whether or not she was serious. After a few moments, he shrugged and flopped down next to her on the bench with a grunt. "Deal, I guess. Now, gimme a clue."

"I'm not _that_ good!"

"Very funny. I meant a crossword clue, and you know it!"

"Sorry; I couldn't resist!"

They made fairly short work of the puzzle together, and Nami had to admit, if only to herself, that it wasn't half bad spending time with Zoro. If all else failed, she had a whole stack of old papers up in the surveying room...


	5. For the Birds, K plus

**Title:** For the Birds  
**Theme:** Set 4 #36 Raft (Eventually...)  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 2,293  
**Rating:** PG?  
**Warnings:** As with the previous piece, spoils for relatively recent canon. (Post-Saobody)  
**Disclaimer(s):** I don't own them, but can't I borrow them for just a bit? I'm sure Oda wouldn't mind as long as I don't break them, right?  
**A/N:** Part 2 of "Zoro Needs a Hobby." Also, thank you Robert Tory Peterson for publishing a beginner's bird guide that's easy to use as a reference.

Nami hadn't approached Zoro about finding a hobby again for almost a week. He probably thought she'd forgotten all about it until she found him just settling down for a nap after breakfast one morning and dropped a book in his lap. He looked up at her with a puzzled frown.

"I found that in the library, and Robin said we could borrow it, since she's already read it."

"'A Beginner's Guide to Birds,'" Zoro read the title aloud. "I hate to break it to you, but pretty much the only birds we get around here on a regular basis are gulls, and I all ready know that's what they are."

"I know _that!_" Nami rolled her eyes. "There _are_ quite a few different kinds of gulls, _and_ we can look for new kinds of birds while we're waiting for the log pose to set on islands. Besides, you agreed to try whatever I told you to, didn't you?"

They both knew he was going to give in because he _was_ a man of his word, but he put up a token resistance of eye-rolling and a disgruntled sigh. "Why do I have to take the book _now?_"

"The birds aren't going to just hang around and pose for you, genius; it'll save time looking things up if you familiarize yourself with the guide ahead of time."

"Why'd you have to pick a hobby with homework?" Zoro groused, but he flipped the guide open to the introduction. Nami didn't immediately leave again. "What now?"

"Are you really reading, or are you just pretending so I'll go away?"

"You want me to read aloud or something?"

"I guess not," Nami conceded, "but I'm going to quiz you later, so don't just brush this off, you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah. I got it."

Sure enough, when the mail gull arrived the next day, Nami took a deep breath and bellowed, "ZORO!" The startled bird flapped its wings and stared at her.

"I'm right over here," a disgruntled Zoro mumbled. "What're you yelling for?"

Nami pointed to the delivery bird.

"That's the mail gull. So?"

"What _kind_ of gull?"

"He's a herring gull."

"And how do you know?"

Zoro retrieved the bird guide from his haramaki, but Nami snatched it from his hand. She flipped to the index, found the page with herring gulls and looked expectantly at the swordsman.

"I know because of the grey coloration of his back and wings, the black wing tips, the red spot on his lower beak, and the characteristic pinkinsh color of his feet." Zoro recited, rolling his eyes.

"I'm impressed! You really _did_ read some of this! I'm guessing part of the introduction and the gull section, right?"

"And the bird part chart," Zoro admitted. "We done here? I wanna go take a nap before lunch."

"Yes, we're done for now," Nami agreed, tossing the guide back to him, "but we should be docking at the next island soon, and we're going to do some serious birdwatching."

"I can hardly contain my excitement," Zoro deadpanned.

* * *

It turned out to be a spring island, and the crew arrived in the midst of the spring island spring, a time Nami was certain would be most fortuitous for bird viewing. The island had only a few permanent inhabitants, most of whom made their living from nature related sight-seeing. Apparently, they were still close enough to the Red Line that tourists were almost as common as pirates.

Nami was discussing the best locations for viewing wildlife with a man who sold binoculars and hiking gear at the docks when a flash of green alerted her to Zoro attempting to wander off without her.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Zoro pointed to a large post covered in smaller signs directing visitors to various natural attractions. "There's a waterfall here. I thought it might be a nice place to meditate."

"You mean _nap!_"

"_No,_" Zoro insisted, "I mean meditate. It's kind of hard to avoid distractions on the Sunny, so I haven't really had a chance since I left Kuraigana Island."

"Well then, a little longer won't hurt anything! We're going birdwatching, remember?"

She never game him a chance for further protest, simply grabbing one of his hands and marching away.

The vendor at the docks told her that the river was probably one of the better spots to watch for animals, and there was an establishment that rented rafts for floating downstream.

The building was rather run-down looking, and Nami almost turned right back around, but the little, frugal voice in her head reminded her, "It's probably cheap!" She tightened her grip on Zoro's hand and dragged him in the door behind her.

The man behind the counter looked up unenthusiastically from the fishing lure he was tying.

"Welcome to Rosie's Raft Rentals," he recited in a monotone. "You guys honeymooners?"

Zoro and Nami looked at each other, down at their still linked hands, and back to the employee.

"Actually," Zoro began.

"Yes," Nami interrupted him. "Yes, we are." She squeezed Zoro's face with her free hand in what was meant to look like an affectionate gesture to the clerk but was really to keep him from talking and turn his face toward a flier on the wall advertising a discount for newlywed couples. "Right, _sweetie?_" She stared at him intently.

Zoro nodded obediently, rather surprisingly deciding not to make a scene. She knew it was probably because he didn't want to be stuck with her if she was going to be grumpy, which stung a little, but at the same time, it was nice to know she could still cow the swordsman if she put her mind to it.

The still far from enthusiastic employee accepted Nami's payment and handed over two life jackets and helmets. Nami almost objected to the very well-used articles until she saw the raft, which was even _more_ well-used.

"Are you sure that's," she stopped herself from saying "safe" like she wanted, instead settling for ending the sentence, "operational?"

"Looks like it floats just fine," Zoro commented with a shrug.

"All of our rafts are regularly inspected and maintained." It might have been more convincing if the man had made an attempt to sound sincere and not just bored. "So, are you guys here for the rapids, or are you just drifting?"

"We're going birdwatching." Zoro managed to exactly match the other man's disinterested tone.

"Well then, when you get to the fork in the river, you'll want to go right. You have the raft all day, if you're willing to portage back upstream by yourselves; otherwise, just tie it up to the dock at our place downstream when you're done," he instructed.

The man disappeared back inside the building, and they drifted off down the river in silence. Nami looked up from examining her paddle when she heard Zoro chuckle under his breath.

"What?"

"I get that you're not above lying to save a few beli, but don't you think that was a little over the top?"

"It's his own fault for assuming!" Nami scoffed. "Honestly, does he think _every_ man and woman that come in together are married? _I_ would have asked to see a marriage license or some rings at the very least!"

"Because that guy was _clearly_ employee of the year material."

"Like I said, it's his own fault! Besides, am I not _good enough_ for you?" Nami teased with mock offense.

Zoro laughed again at that. "I think we both know it's probably the other way around!" He said it like it was a joke, but Nami thought she saw something like disappointment flash across his face briefly. She might have pressed him on the matter, except that she'd just noticed something with a sinking feeling...

"Zoro, wasn't that the fork? Which direction were we supposed to go? Right?"

"Isn't that the way we went?" She supposed it was partly her own fault for not paying more attention, since she was the one with a functional sense of direction. She had just enough time to turn around so she was facing forward and get a firmer grip on her paddle before they hit the rapids.

Nami was certain they were going to die. She shrieked as the raft lurched down the waterway, bouncing off of rocks and occasionally spinning. When the water finally calmed again, she was completely drenched and her heart was pounding! She looked behind her to find Zoro with a wide grin on his face.

"That was great! Can we do that again?"

"Are you _insane?_" she hissed. "We're lucky to be alive!"

"Oh, please!" Zoro rolled his eyes. "You've got a life jacket and a helmet, and you don't really believe I would've let you get hurt, do you?" Nami glared at him. "Hey, look! There's a bird!" Zoro pulled out the bird guide, somehow miraculously _not_ waterlogged, and began flipping through the pages.

Nami considered hitting him over the head with her paddle. She fumed for a few more moments before she was struck by how Zoro seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself, and wasn't that really the whole point? She'd probably have to pay extra if she broke the oar on his thick skull anyway!

"You _really_ want to go through all that again?" she finally asked.

He nodded. "I'll carry the raft back; you won't have to do anything. Then we can go the slow way and look for more birds like you wanted."

Now that she knew that both they and the raft _could_ survive the rapids, she wondered whether a second run through might actually be fun. "Just one more time," she conceded, "but this time _I'm_ giving steering directions because I'm sure you hit everything you possibly could!"

* * *

"One more time" turned into all day. When Nami remarked that Zoro _had_ agreed to look for birds, she was sucked in by the swordsman's competitive nature, and it became a game to see who could identify more birds as they rushed past.

They didn't quit until it was too dark to spot birds anymore, and even though Nami had gotten over her inital fear hours ago, she adamantly opposed the idea of "night rafting."

Robin was the only one out on deck when they arrived back at the Sunny.

"I must admit," she remarked as the exhausted and still slightly damp duo stepped off the gangplank, "I didn't think the birdwatching expedition would last more than an hour or so at the most."

"Me either," Zoro agreed with a shrug, "but it ended up being a lot more entertaining than I expected."

"Were there very many interesting birds?"

"Not really," Nami told her with a shrug of her own. "There were lots of robins, a few jays, things like that."

"There was that osprey," Zoro pointed out.

"True. We saw an owl on the way back, too."

"So, nothing you couldn't easily identify, then?"

"Well, there was that _swamp sparrow._" Zoro put special emphasis on the last two words as he gave Nami a sidelong glance.

"I thought we agreed to disagree on that one!" Nami rolled her eyes. "Besides, it was _clearly_ a chipping sparrow."

"Were you unable to get a good enough look at it? Was the current too fast?"

Zoro and Nami exchanged another glance. "Something like that," Nami muttered.

"It was perched in some cattails, Nami; it was a swamp sparrow."

"I think it was too small to be a swamp sparrow; it was a chipping sparrow!"

"You just don't like admitting you're wrong," Zoro taunted.

"And _you_ hate to _lose,_" she countered.

"Lose?" Robin inquired. "You made it a contest? May I ask who won?"

"It was a tie," Zoro told her.

"The sparrow would have been the tie breaker, but we couldn't confirm who was right, so we called it a draw."

"I see."

"I didn't think I was going to have a good time today, but I did." Zoro clapped a hand on Nami's shoulder. "Thanks. I haven't had fun like that in a long time." He wandered off, probably to bother Sanji or perhaps to take a nap before dinner.

"Does this mean you should plan for another birdwatching expedition?" Robin smiled at the navigator, who was currently staring after the swordsman, a thoughtful look on her face.

"No. This time was a... special case. I need to find him something more active and competitive."

"Are you really just now noticing that those are the kinds of activities he enjoys?" Robin teased.

"No." Nami chuckled. "I thought a quiet hobby might be worth a shot, though!" Then she too disappeared below deck.

"I can't wait to see where this is going," Robin mused aloud. "I do believe _I_ might have a new hobby..."


	6. Keep Your Eye on the Prize, K

**Title:** Keep Your Eye on the Prize  
**Theme:** Set 4 #14 Ball  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 3,913  
**Rating:** G-ish  
**Warnings:** Very vague spoiler for Zoro's Water 7 filler episode. Nothing much else other than some silliness and some unresolvedness at the end. There _will_ be a fourth part though. Someday.  
**Disclaimer(s):** If I owned the characters, the story wouldn't be nearly as epic as Oda makes it. I'm just borrowing.  
**A/N:** Part 3 of "Zoro Needs a Hobby." Yeah, yeah, I'm ridiculously slow... You may yell at me if you must. (At least it's longer than usual?)

"_Golf?_" Zoro eyed the navigator skeptically. "Are you really serious?"

"What? It's a sport."

"Well, yeah, I guess," Zoro conceded, "but wasn't the idea to find me a hobby I can do anywhere? I don't have any of the equipment, and I think this place may have the only course in the New World."

"I just think you ought to give it a shot." Nami flopped down into a vacant chair at the tavern table where Zoro was seated. She acted like she didn't really care one way or the other, but Zoro narrowed his eyes at her.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with _that_, would it?" He cocked his head toward a poster on the wall advertising an annual amateur tournament at the island's course. The prize was a respectable amount of beli.

"Maybe a little," Nami admitted, "but can you blame me for not wanting to turn down easy money? Worst case scenario, I'd be out the entry fee and the cost of renting some clubs, and that's really just a drop in the bucket compared to what you already owe me."

"You _do_ know I'm never going to be able to pay up, right?" Nami just smirked at him. "What makes you think this would be such 'easy money,' anyhow? I've never touched a golf club in my life, and my long distance depth perception is a little... _off._"

"That's why you have me!" She grinned smugly. "This game is all about calculating trajectories based on distance, terrain, and wind patterns, and that's a piece of cake for me. All you have to do is listen to me and hit a ball with a stick! We may have to work a little on the _first_ part of that, but I'm pretty sure you can handle the second."

Zoro rolled his eyes. "I've been cooperating with you, haven't I?"

"You _have_ been very well behaved," Nami mused. "Did you suddenly get a lot more patient?"

"At least you don't enforce compliance with hollows," Zoro grumbled under his breath.

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

"So, what do you say to giving golfing a try?"

Zoro was taking so long to mull it over, Nami was sure he was going to refuse, but then he replied, "I guess I haven't got anything better to do."

"Great! Let's go; we'll want you to get in a little bit of practice before the tournament." She stood up and started for the door.

"_But,_" Zoro's voice stated, halting her, "I have a request."

This was certainly a twist she hadn't expected! She was almost afraid to ask, but how bad could it really be? "Yes?"

"Obviously, we're doing this for the money because there's no reason to enter a competition if you don't want to win, but can you _act_ like we're doing this for fun? In other words, I'd prefer it if you _didn't_ mention the prize again until the end. Think you can manage that?"

"That's it?" Nami scoffed. She'd been worried about _that?_ "_Of course_ I can manage that!" What did he take her for? Yeah, she liked money, but it wasn't like it was the only thing she ever thought about!

"All right." Zoro nodded decisively and stood to join her.

It was a rather odd request, but she shrugged off her curiosity; there was prize money to be won.

* * *

They stopped by the course's pro shop to rent a bag of clubs, and then they headed for the driving range. The range faced the large ridge running down the center of the island. The grass here was less groomed than that of the course itself, and tattered flags marked the distance in fifty yard increments. Nami set a ball on a tee in font of Zoro and handed him the driver. The man in the pro shop had already gone over the basics of the swing with him.

"I want you to hit that as hard as you can," Nami instructed.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Zoro protested.

"Just _do_ it! I need to see what we're working with here."

Zoro shrugged and took a few practise swings before lining himself up for the shot. The club connected with a loud thwack, and the ball soared out of sight-all the way over the ridge!

Elsewhere, a wealthy resident gaped at the golf ball lying in the middle of his salon, having crashed through his picture window from seemingly nowhere. Wasn't the golf course on the other side of the island?

Nami blinked and closed her mouth, realizing she'd been gaping. "Okay... On second thought, you're going to need to take it down a few notches. Could you try that again at maybe half power?"

"It's not that easy," Zoro grumbled. "I don't have a power dial that I can just turn down! I don't think about the amount of force I'm using in terms of percentages; I just look at what the situation at hand calls for and let it happen."

Nami considered that for a moment. "So, if I gave you a scenario to think about, would that help?"

"It's worth a shot, I suppose."

"Okay..." Nami thought some more and then snapped her fingers. "Got it! Hit the ball like you're having one of your fights with Sanji."

"You're going to have to be more specific," Zoro insisted. At first, she thought he might actually be joking, but he seemed to be serious.

"How do you mean?"

"Well, who started it, and how long have we been fighting?"

"What does _that_ have to do with anything?"

"Only _everything!_" Zoro scoffed, rolling his eye as though this should have been extremely obvious. "It's all about escalation. The starting blow is always the weakest, and it ramps up from there."

"Good grief." It was Nami's turn to roll _her_ eyes. "Only you two could turn petty squabbling into something so complicated!" Zoro was still looking at her expectantly, so she gave it a little more thought. "Okay, I've got a new scenario. Luffy just rocketed you into something and thought it was funny."

Zoro shrugged and squared up to the ball again. The ball still went pretty far.

"Clearly _you_ did _not_ think it was funny," Nami quipped.

"I never really do," Zoro admitted, shaking his head slightly, but he also wore a small smile as he thought about their unusual captain. "Besides, Luffy's rubber; he can take it."

"We really need to figure something out for shorter range shots," Nami mused aloud. "How about this? Chopper is choking on something, and you give him a slap on the back to dislodge it." Zoro was unlikely to ever admit to it, but he had a soft spot for the crew's doctor. Sure enough, the ball went a much shorter distance but still farther than she expected. "I suppose he can take it, too?"

"Don't pretend you haven't noticed that Chopper's gotten a lot tougher. We all have." Zoro smirked at her. There was a roundabout compliment in there, so she grinned back.

"I have a feeling putting is going to be the most difficult thing for you."

Sure enough, when they moved on to the putting green, Zoro was consistently hitting the ball too hard, causing it to skip over the hole. Fortunately, his aim was actually pretty good, so it was just a matter of toning down the strength a bit more.

"_Gently_, I said." Nami was about ready to scream in frustration.

"That _was_ gentle!"

"There's got to be some way to get through to you." Nami scowled at an equally grumpy Zoro and tried to think of something that most anyone would handle carefully. "Puppies!" she blurted.

"What about them?" Zoro was looking at her like she was crazy.

"You wouldn't hit a puppy, would you?"

"That depends. Is it my puppy?" Nami looked absolutely apalled. "Relax." Zoro rolled his eyes. "I was _joking._ No, I wouldn't hit a puppy. I might flick it on the nose or something, but I wouldn't hit it."

"All right then, you come across a puppy chewing on one of your swords-" Nami stopped mid-sentence as it was Zoro's turn to look horrified. "_Boots,_" she ammended quickly, "I meant one of your boots!"

"Why aren't I wearing my boot?"

"That's beside the point! There's a puppy chewing on it, so flick his nose!"

"Fine! Sheesh..." Zoro tapped the ball, and they watched it roll toward the hole, perching on the lip for an endless moment before it dropped into the cup. "I did it!" Zoro blinked and then grinned at Nami.

"_Finally!_" Nami couldn't help smiling back. He looked like a little kid that had just finished showing off something like tying his shoes or riding a bike for the first time. It was terribly ridiculous and a little disturbingly cute. "Okay, now let's try it again, from even _closer._"

"Closer?" Zoro was scowling again. "What am I handling more carefully than a puppy? Kittens?"

"How about a baby?" Nami proposed. "You're burping a cranky baby."

"What makes you think I know _anything_ about babies _at all?_" Nami gave him a pointed look. "Stupid Robin," Zoro groused.

Nami retrieved the ball and set it down a short distance from the cup. "Show me how gently you'd burp a baby."

"That depends." Zoro was looking at her out of the corner of his eye, the edges of his mouth twitching in a effort not to smirk. "Is it my baby?"

"Stop being annoying on purpose!" Nami scolded him. "You do that quite enough already!"

"I'm just saying," Zoro defended teasingly, "that any offspring of mine are bound to inherent some higher than average resilience, that's all."

"Pretend it's _my_ baby, and I'll beat your face in if you hurt it."

"Please." Zoro snorted. "Your kids'll be born tough as nails and charging interest."

"_Fine._ It's a random baby with no backstory that isn't ours!" Nami bit her lip when she realized that sounded a bit wrong. "I meant, of course, that the imaginary baby isn't _either_ of ours and certainly not _both._"

"Of course." Zoro cleared his throat awkwardly. "I knew what you meant."

Now, Nami couldn't help but think about it just a little. Would green hair be more dominant than her own red? She looked over at Zoro, only to see him staring off into space with a thoughtful frown she was sure mirrored her own. Against her better judgement, she gave in to curiosity.

"Are you imagining what our kid might look like?" she asked. There was an obvious, unspoken "too."

"Sort of," Zoro admitted. "I was just thinking any girls better look more like you because I ain't exactly pretty."

The mental image his comment sparked had Nami laughing so hard she could feel tears at the corners of her eyes.

"Oi." Zoro seemed less than amused, but she was certain that was only because he couldn't see it.

"I was just picturing a little girl with your grumpy face!"

"At least I wouldn't have to worry about beating the boys off with a stick." Zoro maintained his frown, but his eye had an amused twinkle.

"If the looks didn't frighten them all off, she'd probably be super bossy, too," Nami added. As if to prove her point, after taking a moment to compose herself, she pointed back to the ball. "Now, burp the _normal_ baby."

Zoro gently tapped the ball, and it rolled into the cup.

"Great." Nami nodded approvingly. "I want you to practice a little more here while I go get us signed up for the tournament."

"I'm surprised you didn't do that already."

"What? I wasn't going to _force_ you to do this." Zoro looked at her skeptically. "Okay, maybe I would have, but I wanted to be sure we stood a chance before forking over the registration fee."

As Nami was about to enter the club house, a man stepped out of the shadows.

"Excuse me, Miss," he hailed her casually, "but I saw you and your friend at the driving range earlier. I take it you're entering the tournament?" He waited for an acknowledging nod. "I was wondering if I might interest you in a side arrangement? I promise it would be well worth your time."

The situation practically reeked with the possibility of easy money. Nami glanced back toward the putting green, which was visible from where she stood. Zoro was obediently practicing as she'd asked. There was no harm in hearing the man out, right? Zoro never even needed to know.

"I'm listening, but make it quick."

"The owner of the course is the one who puts up the prize for the tournament," the man began, "and he always enters as well. He has yet to lose and actually have to pay out the prize money, and his bragging has become rather insufferable. Your man over there shows impressive, if rather raw, talent, and your main opponent won't be expecting it. I'm willing to sweeten the pot with an extra 300,000 beli, if you make certain you beat him, by _any_ means."

Nami would only be lying to herself if she said the extra money wasn't appealing, but even if she hadn't promised Zoro she wouldn't focus on the prize alone, she knew he would never forgive her if there were any cheating involved.

"Thanks for the offer, but 'my man over there' only plays an honest game."

"I see." He didn't sound like he was really convinced she was serious. "Please consider it a standing proposal." Then he disappeared as quickly as he had arrived.

* * *

Zoro was paired with the course owner in a draw Nami was entirely certain had been orchestrated by the man who propositioned her earlier. She decided to ignore the situation, since she hadn't accepted the deal anyway, and went about things as she would have no matter who the other competitor in their group was. She was acting as Zoro's caddie, and at the start of each hole, she and Zoro would take a look at the course diagram and brainstorm every shot. The system was working surprisingly well, and Zoro was only a stroke behind as they started on the seventeenth hole.

Nami happened to glance to the side and noticed the man from before. He subtly signaled her that he wished to speak again. Zoro was busy watching the course owner prepare to take his second stroke, and Nami headed over, fully intending to tell the man off once and for all. She joined him in a small cluster of trees just off the fairway.

"We're still not taking you up on your offer," Nami informed him curtly.

"It's probably just as well," the man informed her, "since the conditions have changed. You recall the original terms were payment upon the owner's loss?" Nami nodded. She had a bad feeling about where this was going. "He's much less squeamish than you are about using less than fair means to win. I've been offered a substantial incentive to ensure he wins again this year. Rather than resorting to other trickery, I thought I would offer you a portion of my payment in exchange for taking a fall."

"Not happening," Nami refused bluntly. "My friend may be disgusted by the idea of cheating to win, but he'd hate losing on purpose even more."

"He wouldn't have to know," the man countered. "I've seen how you plan out each hole. It would be simple enough to give him incorrect instructions."

The idea of just not telling Zoro was uncomfortably close to her justification to listening to the first offer, but she couldn't sabotage Zoro like that; he'd never forgive her.

"Like I told you before, no deal."

"Very well." To his credit, the stranger did seem genuinely disappointed. "Do remember the opportunity _was_ offered." He shrugged and headed back up onto the fairway.

Nami waited a few moments before following and was startled to find Zoro leaning against the other side of a tree.

"Like you told him before?" he asked. His tone and expression were both too neutral not to be intentionally so. "He made you another offer, but you didn't think I needed to know about it?"

"Why should I have to tell you?" Nami countered. "I didn't take the offer, and you said you didn't want to talk about the money part of things."

"You didn't take it, but you thought about it, didn't you." It wasn't even a question.

"No." Why did she suddenly feel so defensive? She _didn't take it!_ Shouldn't that count for something? "I didn't even have to think about it once I knew what it was."

"But you were willing to listen to the offer," Zoro argued. "That means you were considering taking the deal _without_ knowing what it was." The cool and collected mask was slipping, an undertone of anger seeping into the swordsman's words. "I suppose I'm just supposed to let it slide because the money wasn't good enough this time to make you break your word?"

"If I recall," Nami snapped back, "the deal was that I wouldn't _talk_ about the money, and I didn't. You wanted me to pretend to be having fun. I think I was doing a pretty good job until just now." She didn't really mean that, but it hurt that he was so quick to believe she'd turn her back on him for a little extra money.

"If it's such a burden," Zoro snarled, all pretense of calm now gone, "I won't bother you with it anymore. After this, we're done. You don't have to waste your precious time on me." He stalked back over to the others.

Nami followed close behind him, but she didn't try to speak with him again. Zoro had taken that a lot worse than she thought he would! They'd have to work it out later because she didn't want to have that conversation so publicly.

On the green, the course owner just missed one of his putts, bringing the score between him and Zoro to a tie. Zoro's opponent did not look at all pleased until the man who kept offering Nami deals whispered something to him.

"What do you say we play the last hole without help from our caddies?" he asked in a sly tone.

"Fine by me." Zoro hadn't so much as glanced over at Nami before answering. For the briefest of moments, she worried that he might throw the match just to spite her, but this was _Zoro._ If he lost, it wouldn't be for lack of effort!

The eighteenth hole was a long straight shot to the green. The distance was broken down into two shots by most golfers, but Nami knew Zoro could easily make it in one. She knew exactly how she would have coached him, given the opportunity, but now she had to just stand by and watch.

Zoro took a moment to study the listed distance to the green, and Nami could only hope he was estimating the force required in a similar fashion to herself. He squared up to the ball, and Nami bit her lower lip to keep from calling out to him to adjust his aim. There was a breeze from the left; normally, she would have brought it up right away, but Zoro was on his own. She let out a relieved breath she hadn't realized she was holding when Zoro paused and readjusted for the wind. He swung confidently and everyone watched the ball sail through the air, land on the green a short distance from the pin, and roll into the cup and out of sight.

The course owner, his caddie, and his associate gaped. Nami wanted to cheer, but Zoro's own expression was still a stony glare, so she restrained herself. He returned his club to the bag and turned to the course owner.

"Looks like I'm done here. You can discuss whatever else you need to with her." He gestured to Nami, still without looking at her, and then just walked away.

Nami let him go, deciding that letting him cool off for a bit would go a long way toward smoothing things over between them. In the meantime, Zoro had won the competition fair and square.

"About that prize money..."

* * *

When she got back to the ship, Nami was surprised to learn from Robin that Zoro had arrived back before her. He was up in the crow's nest gym, lifting weights with a mechanical precision she couldn't remember seeing since before the crew reunited. He didn't acknowledge her presence at all, and she hovered uncomfortably, halfway through the trapdoor.

"I subtracted the entry and rental fees from the total, but this is your half of the prize money." She set down a bag near the hatch. He didn't even blink, and she was so certain she'd get some kind of response for being generous enough to give him _half!_ "Did you hear me?" she asked after a few moments of heavy silence.

"I heard you." His response was by no means loud, but she almost jumped at the unexpected sound. "You really think I care about the money?"

To be honest, she couldn't really think of any other reason for him to be angry, and hadn't that been the one thing he'd been insistent about at the beginning of this whole golfing fiasco?

"I meant what I said before." Zoro's voice cut into her musing. "I'm done with this whole hobby thing. I got by just fine without one before, and it isn't worth all the trouble." He set down his barbell with a clunk and turned to the trap door. "You mind letting me out?"

She scrambled up the rest of the way into the gym, and he scooped up the offered bag and brushed past her, disappearing down the ladder. She sat staring mutely at the trapdoor for a few moments. Over that time her rather hurt confusion changed into annoyed determination. Zoro might think this was over, but she wasn't done yet!


	7. Peace Offerings, K

**Title:** Peace Offerings  
**Theme:** Set 4 #18 Earth  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 4095  
**Rating:** G  
**Warnings:** Spoils a bit to recent canon, but if you've read the rest of it, none of this spoils anything more.  
**Disclaimer(s):** I wish I owned the characters because then I'd be Eiichiro Oda, and I would know what was going to happen next in the story. I don't own them, though.  
**A/N:** Final part of "Zoro Needs a Hobby." It didn't end very shippy at all... Oh well.

Nami realized her first two attempts at finding Zoro a hobby weren't exactly wildly successful, but the third time was a charm, right? She was determined to find something so perfect Zoro would have no choice but to acknowledge that she knew what she was doing. He'd probably even thank her! All right, maybe that was pushing it, but the fact remained that she was _determined._

If only she had _any_ more ideas...

She couldn't even observe Zoro for inspiration because he'd become remarkably good at avoiding her whenever possible. The _really_ annoying thing was that he looked _guilty_ about it!

A few weeks ago, she wouldn't have even noticed, but now, having spent quite a bit of time with him, she could see it. She supposed it was something like facial expressions on a cat-they usually didn't change much _physically_, but somehow one could just _tell._

Then, out of the blue, he stole one of her crossword puzzles! She couldn't _prove_ anything, but she was positive it was Zoro. It wasn't just any puzzle, either-he stole the most recent one. She wasn't even sure how he'd done it-his straightforward nature had never led her to consider whether he could be stealthy-but one day the entire page containing the crossword puzzle was just inexplicably gone. She never even had a chance to confront him about it because the next day it had been returned just as mysteriously. The strangest part of all? None of the puzzle was completed.

What was going on here? Had he taken it just to bother her and thought better of it? Had he wanted something to do, didn't want to ask her for it, and then changed his mind? Was she going crazy?

The _next_ day she was fairly certain she'd caught him just after giving something to the mail gull, which was also odd. She'd never seen him sending any letters before now, and she would have passed it off as nothing, if he hadn't turned and given her an odd look before walking away. It was almost like he was afraid she'd find out what he was mailing.

After the mail gull incident, Zoro stopped completely avoiding her. He treated her like he used to before the whole hobby discussion. Nami was rather insulted that he seemed to think he could just pretend nothing had happened and found that she missed the closer companionship they had been developing.

Sure, he'd join in on dinner discussions with the group and act civilly around her, but there were no more inside jokes or ridiculous hypothetical discussions. He was careful to always have at least one other crew mate present in the room when he was around her. It was still perturbing her greatly that she didn't know _why._

A few weeks later, the mail gull brought a small package with it. From the shape and weight, she was fairly certain it was a book; she expected to see Robin's name on the label but instead...

"That's mine," Zoro informed her, plucking the package from her grasp and disappearing below deck to the men's quarters.

Zoro had ordered a book? Nami knew he wasn't _really_ stupid, even though she called him that often enough, but hadn't he told her he didn't really enjoy reading as a pastime?

She had just about convinced herself she should investigate when all the pieces finally began to fall into place.

It all started with a package left on her desk. She immediately recognized it as the one that had arrived in the mail for Zoro. It was accompanied by a note and the bag she had given the swordsman with his share of the golf tournament winnings. She looked at the note first.

_The gift is in case you don't feel like asking me for help anymore. Subtract the money from my tab._

Even if she hadn't already suspected who had left the unsigned note, the handwriting was just like his fighting-right to the point and with no wasted strokes.

Next, she opened the package, curious to see its contents. It was a crossword dictionary and a pretty nice one, too!

Suspecting that she knew from where the funds for the purchase had been taken, she turned the bag upside down and emptied it onto her desk. Sure enough, part of the total was missing.

On a hunch, she pulled out the paper from which Zoro had stolen the puzzle page. Just as Nami figured, there was an ad for a very familiar crossword dictionary, and the price and shipping cost just happened to match the amount missing from the money bag.

Though she really, _really_ hated to admit it, she was actually a bit pacified by the fact that Zoro hadn't spent any of the money on himself. She thought he'd at least have treated himself to a few drinks or something, but apparently, when he had implied it wasn't about the money, it really wasn't.

So this was some sort of apology? If Zoro thought he could get away without explaining a few things, he could just think again! Nami decided they were going to have a little talk, whether Zoro wanted to or not.

The swordsman must have really thought things were settled between them because he seemed genuinely surprised to find Nami waiting for him in the crow's nest gym, greeting him with, "We need to have a little chat."

"I should have figured this was coming," he mumbled. At least he had the decency not to pretend he didn't know what she meant. She wasn't _entirely_ sure they were really on the same page, though.

"You can start then," she encouraged.

There was a long pause in which Nami presumed Zoro was choosing his words carefully, but then he said, "I'm not really mad at you." She gave him a skeptical look, one eyebrow raised. "Oh, I _was_," he clarified, "and I'm still a little annoyed, but I'm mostly mad at _me._"

"Really?" Interesting... "Why would you be mad at yourself?"

"For being an idiot," he replied bluntly, shrugging casually. He also didn't seem to think that response required any elaboration, but Nami sure did.

"Go on," she encouraged. They stared one another down for a moment before Zoro finally caved with a roll of his eye.

"I was expecting something unreasonable from our... project. I realized we didn't have the same expectations, it was frustrating, and I decided I didn't want to deal with it anymore."

"I'm going to need some more detail." He really _was_ being terribly vague!

"Look, you were trying to do me a favor; I get it, and I appreciate the effort. I never would have tried these things on my own, so thanks for making me think outside my usual box, but I get the feeling you picked both your attempts out of convenience."

"That's not true!" It was a knee-jerk protest.

"No?" Zoro's expression showed he wasn't buying it. "Can you honestly tell me you made those selections because they seemed like something I would enjoy? You expect me to believe other factors didn't have more sway?"

"I _did_ think about you," Nami insisted. "Maybe you _weren't_ always the first thing on my mind, but there were things I didn't pick because I knew they'd be worse."

"I don't really want to argue about it." He sighed and massaged his temples. "What it boils down to in the end is I was enjoying trying new things _with_ someone-_with you_-because I've honestly had enough of being alone. I never thought about it much before I met Luffy, but now..."

"I know what you mean." She did. It had been the same for her-feeling like she didn't need anyone. Then Luffy had come crashing into her life, and she no longer had any desire for the solitary life of a thief.

"I guess I'd started to realize it before Saobody," Zoro continued, "but it really hit me during those two years away from everyone-I _need_ this crew.

"I got to take a good, close look at Mihawk, and I know it was like looking at what I would have become, left on my own. I still have a lot of respect for the guy, and I'm _going_ to take his title, but I don't want to _be_ him.

"I thought you and I had a nice friendship... _thing_ going, but apparently, I was reading more into it than was really there, so that's on me. It isn't fair for me to expect you to feel a certain way about something if you don't, and you had every right to be getting something out of your time. So, I was an idiot, I overreacted, and it's better if we just let it go before it _really_ blows up in our faces."

Nami was left momentarily stunned by that speech. Zoro was usually a man of relatively few words, but this was bordering on babbling! She quickly ran through what he'd said in her mind, and even though she felt he'd actually done rather a _lot_ of overreacting recently, she was fairly certain she knew which specific time he meant.

"You really _are_ an idiot," she told him. "You should know by now that I don't do anything I don't _want_ to do! I only said I was pretending to have fun because I was angry at you. I didn't think I'd done anything wrong-frankly, I _still_ don't. You know me; money's hard for me to pass up."

"I _do_ know you," Zoro agreed. "After I cooled down and thought about it, I realized you didn't turn down that deal just _because_ of me-you did it _for_ me. That's..." He paused for a moment, jaw clenched and gaze turned away from her. In those seconds of heavy silence, she wished she could see his eye, to catch a glimpse of the emotion there. "It means a lot to me." He looked back up at her, but now his expression was that terribly annoying forced calm he'd used at the golf course. "That's why I... You know."

"Sort of apologized and got me a present?" she suggested.

"Anyway," he changed the subject, his lack of acknowledgement indicating she was right on the money, "I'm not really holding a grudge anymore, and you don't need to worry about it. I think we should just go back to how things were. Sound fair?"

"No," she answered simply. She cut him off before he could protest. "It _doesn't_ sound fair. Don't I get a third strike?"

Zoro's brows pulled together in a puzzled frown. "What?"

"I messed up twice, but I think it's only fair I get one more crack at it."

The swordsman seemed to be briefly considering it, but then he shook his head. "I don't think I want to risk it-look how last time wound up. Remember, it's 'three strikes, you're out,' after all." He smiled ruefully. "We _are_ kind of stuck with each other on this ship." When she still looked like she wanted to argue, he added, "For what it's worth, you didn't completely mess up; I did enjoy it most of the time."

There was a long, awkward pause before Zoro made up some excuse that Nami didn't really hear and left. Her eyes drifted over to the bench where she'd been sitting when this all started. She walked over and sat down, pieces of the conversation playing over and over again in her head.

The thing that grated most was when he'd said, "I _do_ know you," and its implied, "but you don't know _me._"

Then he had the nerve to tell her she didn't get any more chances? Like he would have done any better trying to find something for her! Since when was he the boss of her anyway? Come to think of it, he hadn't, strictly speaking, told her she _couldn't_ try again-he just said he thought it was a bad idea...

Nami grinned. She was going to take that third chance, and she was going to prove she knew him just as well as he thought he knew her!

She had to be very careful this time, since it was sink or swim now. She ran over all of their conversations mentally, everything he'd said and done that might provide her with inspiration.

By the time she heard Sanji calling everyone to dinner, she had a plan.

* * *

Nami couldn't put her plan into effect until the next time the Sunny docked at an island. She needed Zoro out of the way, since she was going to have to surprise him. At first, she was worried he might suspect something when she made no arguments against the crew splitting up to explore, but it seemed he was too happy to get away for some alone time to think about it much.

Robin and Franky had been enlisted to assist. Robin was selected because her powers made her as efficient as several helpers, and Franky was providing design input and doing the heavy lifting.

Everything was running smoothly until Zoro unexpectedly showed up back at the ship. Nami had sent Franky to find a key piece of the surprise, so she was the one moving a large, heavy bag when she ran into the swordsman.

"What are you doing here?" she blurted.

"Uh, I _live_ here?" Zoro gave her a puzzled look.

"I meant, what are you doing here right _now,_" she clarified. "I thought you were going for a walk." Zoro _never_ found his way back this fast! It was just her luck...

"There's all kinds of forage on this place," Zoro explained with a shrug, "I thought I'd come back for a bag to gather some while I'm out. Maybe I won't have to listen to the cook whine about wishing he had more fresh produce."

"That's a good idea; you should definitely go do that." She would have made a shooing gesture, if her hands weren't both occupied. She continued to lug her burden toward the gang plank.

"What's in the bag?"

Nami considered lying, but she was fairly sure he'd never guess the why behind it, so she answered honestly. "Dirt from the flower bed."

"Don't we... need it?"

"Not really. Robin hasn't had as much time for gardening recently, so she's consolidating her flowers to a smaller area." It was true. The archaeologist had mentioned her plans to Nami some time ago. They hadn't been sure what to do with the vacant space until Nami's plan.

"You need a hand with that?"

"No, no, I've got it!" Then she saw Franky walking up the gangplank behind Zoro, the item he'd been sent for in his very large hands. "On second thought, why _don't_ you take it?" She foisted the large sack onto Zoro, the top blocking his face from her view and Franky from Zoro's.

"Okay..." Zoro's reply was muffled. "Way to change your mind." She gestured at Franky to hurry, and he managed to slip past with surprising stealth.

"Just dump the soil somewhere, and then you can use the bag! Sanji's going to have to wash the food before he uses it anyway, right?"

"I guess." She spun the swordsman around and gave him a nudge toward the gang plank. He rearranged the bag so he could see and headed off again.

Nami had actually been planning to empty out the soil and fill the bag with its replacement material herself. Oh well, the important thing was the surprise hadn't been spoiled! The sooner she got everything finished the better.

* * *

The crew decided to have a barbecue on the beach for dinner that evening. Everyone was helping carry food, chairs, and other items to the area where Luffy and Usopp had gleefully prepared a bonfire.

Nami pulled Zoro aside in the middle of a trip back to the Sunny; she wanted to show him her surprise while it was still light enough and didn't want to wait until the next day.

"Did you need my help with something?" he asked her.

"Not exactly," Nami answered evasively.

"Then what's up?"

"I have a surprise for you." She didn't give him a chance to respond, in case he had the same old objections. "I _know_ you said we should give up on the whole hobby thing, but I wasn't ready to just let it go, and this time I _really_ thought it through! What do you say? Give me one last chance?" She threw in a pleading look for good measure.

Zoro rolled his eye and sighed. "It's not like I can get you to give up now, anyhow..." That was pretty much the Zoro equivalent of "go for it."

"Okay, close your eye, and no peeking."

"Why?" He sounded suspicious.

"It's a surprise, remember? If I accidentally run you into anything, I'll take a little off your debt."

"Seriously?"

"_No,_ but I promise I'll be very careful."

This earned her another put upon sigh, but Zoro closed his eye. Nami grabbed one of his elbows and guided him up the stairs to the deck above the galley. He frowned slightly, and she wondered if he might actually realize where they were going, but he never asked.

Once they'd reached the deck above the galley, Nami moved Zoro so his back was to the mast and his surprise was directly in front of him.

"All right, you can look now."

Zoro looked, and apart from an almost imperceptible widening of his eye, his face remained impassive. This really wasn't the reaction she'd been hoping for... Nami found herself babbling.

"Okay, I know it kind of looks like a sandbox, but it's supposed to be a rock garden. There's only that one rock right now, but I'm sure Luffy would be happy to find more for you, if you ask. It's just, I remember you mentioning that you thought Mihawk's was nice, and you didn't really have a good place to meditate, and..." She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "This was another stupid idea, wasn't it?"

"No," Zoro said, apparently snapping out of whatever daze he'd been in, "it's great! I was just honestly _surprised._" One corner of his mouth quirked into a small smirk. "You actually _listened_ when I was talking," he muttered. She suspected she wasn't meant to hear that last part.

"_Of course_ I listened! What kind of person do you think I am?"

Zoro apparently decided _not_ to answer that question. Instead, he stepped forward for a closer look.

With Franky's assistance, a little more than half of the flower bed had been expanded slightly and filled with the white sand from the island's beach. A wooden rake lay to one side, and a large flat rock sat at the end nearest Nami's mikan trees.

Zoro gestured to the rock. "So, is that what Franky was carrying when you practically threw that bag of dirt at me?"

"How did you know?" She thought they'd been so sneaky...

"I don't have to actually _see_ somebody to know they're there."

"Anyway, I had him put it in a spot that gets a little bit of sun, but also shade from the mast and the trees; it's big enough to sit on, if you want to meditate up here instead of in the gym. Most of the others guys don't come up here much, unless Sanji's making a delivery or Usopp's working on a project. By the way, Usopp says he can make some other rakes, if you want to try varying the pattern."

Zoro picked up the rake and dragged it through the sand experimentally. The lines were a little shaky; it looked like making patterns in the sand wasn't quite as easy as she'd thought. Zoro was being awfully quiet again.

"I don't come up here all the time either, so you don't have to be here when I am, if you don't want to be." He didn't say anything to that, so Nami decided she would. "I'd like it if we were up here together, though. I really _did_ enjoy spending all that time with you. You've got more of a sense of humor than I gave you credit for, and you're actually a pretty easy person to talk to. I've missed that. I thought you should know."

She started to walk away. It felt good to get that off her chest, but she wished he'd said something back.

"I kind of miss it, too."

Yeah, something like that. Wait... She turned back to face him, an incredulous look on her face.

"What did you say?"

"My favorite parts were the random things. You know, lying to get a discount on the raft, swamp sparrow versus chipping sparrow, imaginary, bossy little girls with scary faces... That kind of thing."

"Oh, really?" She was equal parts intrigued and skeptical.

"I actually imagined talking my way through that last golf hole with you," he continued. "Of course, I was kind of mad at you, so the you in my head was pretty mean, but she made me correct for the wind."

"That just goes to show that even when I'm only imaginary, I'm always right," Nami teased with a smirk.

"I think I like the real you better." There was another long pause. "I don't want to spend every waking minute with you or anything, and I can't guarantee we won't start to drive each other crazy, but I wouldn't mind hanging around with you more again."

Nami grinned, giving her head a slight shake. It was as close to an "I was wrong" as she was ever likely to get from the swordsman.

"I'd like that," she replied sincerely before her expression turned mischievous. "We could start with another crossword puzzle. That dictionary is very nice, but it's _awfully_ hard to tease..."

Zoro snorted, but she could tell he was amused. "I'm sorry, was that supposed to make me _want_ to help you? How are you ever going to improve, if I keep giving you all the answers?"

Her grin widened. "Bet I can figure out more clues faster than you," she taunted in a singsong tone.

"Bring it." Now he was grinning, too.

She was about to go fetch a puzzle and do just that when a drawn out cry of "FOOOOD!" from the beach informed them that dinner was about to be served.

"Raincheck?" she asked.

"Sure," Zoro agreed. The puzzle could wait; they had time, since they were "stuck with each other," as Zoro had phrased it earlier. Neither one minded at all.


	8. Maybe Not All Better, K Plus

**Title:** Maybe Not All Better, But Getting There  
**Theme:** Set 4 #21 White  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 856  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warnings:** Spoilers up to post time skip. If you're _very_ easily squicked by injury description some of this might bother you, but it's really very tame, I promise!  
**Disclaimer(s):** As much as I love them and frequently borrow them without permission, neither these characters nor the setting belong to me.

Nami had just fallen into that dreamy, half-awake state that comes easily when one is basking in the warm sun, when she was pulled back to full wakefulness by colorful swearing. She sat up and looked over to where Zoro had been working out to find the swordsman with his good eye squeezed tightly shut, one fist rubbing at it fiercely.

"You shouldn't rub it like that, you know," she remarked casually. "You could scratch your eye. You don't want to lose that one too, do you?"

Zoro visibly tensed at that, and she wished she hadn't said it.

"Want me to see if I can find whatever's stuck in there?" she offered.

He shrugged. "I sure can't see it myself."

She walked over and guided him back to her deck chair, pushing him down to a seated position.

"Hold still," she directed. She carefully pried Zoro's right eyelids open with her own left hand. The eye was looking bloodshot and watery, but she didn't see any obvious foreign objects. "Look up?"

"It hurts." He sounded like a sulky child.

"Just do it, you big baby!"

He complied, and she spotted the offender after only a few moments.

"Aha! It's an eyelash." She carefully removed the hair with the tip of her right index finger. "Done."

"It _still_ hurts." As soon as she moved her left hand, Zoro's eye snapped shut again.

She leaned forward and planted a playful peck on the closed lid. "Better?"

"_No._"

Nami's own eyes drifted over to the left side of Zoro's face. As if he could read her mind he said, "It's still in there, you know; I didn't lose it. Can't see out of it anyway, but the cut damaged some of the muscles and nerves in the lid; I can't keep it open anymore." Now she was a little curious. "You can look, if you want." How was he _doing_ that? It was creepy...

"Is it gross looking?" She felt a little bad asking such a thing, but she wasn't sure she wanted to see.

"I dunno." Zoro shrugged. "Depends on what you think is gross. The cut must have gotten infected or something, and it scarred over."

That didn't really tell her what she wanted to know. After a few moments of deliberation, she decided to take a peek.

She pulled the scarred lid open, much as she had with the other eye, and couldn't help a small gasp.

"Guess it _was_ gross, then?" Zoro asked.

"I was just surprised," she told him.

She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but it wasn't what she saw. The area of the eye that once would have shown Zoro's dark iris and pupil was now clouded over with a milky haze. It reminded her of the way the eyes looked on a dead fish. She was forcibly reminded of how very close Zoro had been to death on Thriller Bark and how heavily injured he'd been at Saobody. She suppressed a shudder, let the lid fall closed again, and rested her lips on the eye in a more lingering kiss.

"I hate to break it to you, but that one's _way_ past a kiss making it all better." Zoro chuckled. When she pulled back, he had his good eye open, and it was comforting to see it full of life.

"I _know_ that," Nami scoffed. It had been more about helping herself feel better. "When are you going to learn to take better care of yourself?"

He shrugged. "Why? You _worried_ about me?"

He'd meant it as a joke, but there was a heavy silence. She _had_ worried about him while the crew was apart, and she realized looking into that dead orb that she'd hate to actually lose the swordsman. Zoro's expression showed that he realized this was a sentimental moment, but he'd never been very good with those. If only there was something to break the tension...

"That's not the only new scar I've got," Zoro informed her. "You wanna kiss those, too?" Ah yes, the antagonistic defense mechanism. She could have kissed him for giving her an escape route from the emotional minefield, but that would kind of defeat the purpose.

"You're _disgusting!_" She pushed him away and took a step back herself. She wasn't really mad, just reestablishing the status quo.

"Hey, I didn't say _where,_" Zoro defended with a halfhearted glare. "You're the one with a dirty mind."

"Get off my chair, and go do something somewhere else!"

"Fine!"

He went back across the deck and resumed doing an endless number of pushups. Nami lay back down and closed her eyes, a small smile on her face. Zoro was very much alive, and she hoped he'd stay that way for a long time.


	9. Masquerade, K

**Title:** Masquerade  
**Theme:** Set 4 #22 Angel  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 978  
**Rating:** G  
**Warnings:** None.  
**Disclaimer(s):** I wish I had half of Eiichiro Oda's amazing creativity. The general setting and all recognizable characters belong to him.

The island at which the crew was currently stopped seemed to be some kind of crazy, continuous masquerade ball. It was going to take over twelve hours for the log pose to set, and they'd arrived in the evening, so there was really no reason not to join the party.

In order to avoid standing out, costumes would be required. Given the island's nature, they were available to rent cheaply. Nami had always enjoyed shopping for clothing, so she volunteered to go on the rental run. Zoro was roped into going along to carry everything since he didn't have any supply gathering duties, he was slightly better behaved in public than the captain, and he had no idea what kind of costume he wanted, while most of the others had requests or at least preferences.

Once at the shop, Nami quickly and efficiently collected the costumes specially requested by her crew mates before taking her time to select one for herself. There was an impressive selection, but nothing really piqued her interest until she caught a glimpse of snowy white feathers out of the corner of her eye.

She heard a familiar snort from behind her and looked over her shoulder to find Zoro, arms full of the already selected ensembles.

"Seriously?" he asked. "An _angel?_"

"Do you have a _problem_ with that?" She glared at him. Not that she'd ever say as much out loud, but it hurt a little that the idea of her even simply dressing as an angel was funny to him. Was she really that bad? "Before you answer," she added with smirk, "remember that I still haven't picked an outfit for _you._"

"No, no problem!" He looked properly horrified at the prospect of her picking him out something ridiculous in retribution. "I mean, isn't the point of a costume to dress up as something you're not?"

"You're really not helping your case."

"It's just that angels are all goody-goody and perfect and that's..." he trailed off, searching for how he wanted to end that sentence.

"Not me?" She wanted to stay angry, but this was kind of hilarious. It was rare to see the swordsman so flustered. She forced her face to remain in a disapproving frown.

"Boring?" he offered instead. "You're crafty, you take what you want, and you're not afraid to get your hands dirty, and that's all a part of who you are." _Surely_ he realized that didn't sound terribly flattering! "If you didn't have all of that not so perfect stuff, I'm not sure I'd like you as much." That was almost sweet, in an idiotic sort of way.

"How much _do_ you like me?" She asked, expression blank, one eyebrow raised.

Nami could practically hear the gears turning in his head as Zoro processed both what he'd just said and her response. He looked a bit like he would like nothing more than to beat his head against the wall right now.

"I'm just going to go wait by the counter," he mumbled and skulked off toward the checkout.

Nami turned back to the racks of costumes. She was momentarily tempted to pick something mean, but then her gaze settled upon something simply _perfect._ She snatched up her find and carried it and the angel costume over to where Zoro was waiting. She hooked her right index finger through the hanger hook and let the outfit hang behind her so Zoro couldn't get a good look at it, yet.

"You know what?" She didn't wait for any sort of acknowledgement. "After thinking about it for a bit, you're not completely wrong."

"Huh?" was his intelligent response.

"Costumes _are_ all about getting to pretend to be something you're not." She grinned impishly. "So you and I are going to be sort of a matched set."

"We are?" He looked at her dubiously. What he could see of the costume was red and black-not exactly the usual angelic color scheme.

"Here you go!"

She swung the hanger around to the front. Now that Zoro could get a good look at it, it _clearly_ wasn't another angel outfit. In fact, it was pretty much the opposite. This was confirmed by the costume name printed on the tag: "Demon."

"I thought you agreed costumes were about being what you're not."

"Yep!" Nami grinned at him, clearly enjoying this quite a bit.

"I didn't give the 'demon swordsman' nickname to _myself._"

"I know," she agreed offhandedly.

"People started calling me that because I'm _scary._" Zoro's expression was utterly sincere.

"Sure you are." If she didn't know he'd never really hurt her on purpose, it would be seriously pushing her luck, but Nami couldn't resist reaching up to ruffle Zoro's hair. As if the condescending tone weren't bad enough. "You're very scary-to people who don't _know_ you."

She then grabbed the articles from Zoro's arms and turned her focus to the teller. They didn't say anything else to one another, but Zoro was keeping up a steady grumbling rant to himself about how he _was_ scary, and she was just lucky he didn't feel like _proving_ it.

He didn't need to prove anything, really. Nami knew very well what a terrifying force Zoro could be in the midst of a battle, but he wasn't just a ruthless killing machine. Nami was glad there was a lot more to him; if there weren't, she wouldn't like him as much.


	10. The Spark, K plus

**Title:** The Spark  
**Theme:** Set 4 #6 Electricity  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 1613  
**Rating:** G-ish  
**Warnings:** Spoils a bit for up to post Alabasta. Yay nostalgia? Also, my usual odd silliness.  
**Disclaimer(s):** The characters and setting all belong to Eiichiro Oda, who is _waaay_ better at planning ahead than me. That's probably why his work is so awesome.

The Going Merry was sailing through a powerful winter climate zone, and everyone who wasn't the unfortunate soul on watch huddled together in the galley, bundled up in warm clothing. This particular afternoon, Robin was in the crow's nest. Sanji prepared a steady stream of warm snacks and drinks, both for the comfort of the others and so he could stand next to the warm stove. Usopp was entrancing Luffy and Chopper with some crazy story in which the protagonist, who was not the Great Captain Usopp himself for once, was in search of his true love. Zoro slumped in a chair, half-asleep. Nami was going over some surveying numbers from one of the islands she planned to chart.

"He knew the moment he saw her that she was his one true love," Usopp declared to his rapt audience.

"How did he know?" Chopper asked. "He just met her, didn't he?"

"Sometimes there's an instant connection," Usopp said knowingly. "A special spark between two people."

"Like fire?" Luffy wondered.

"No, more like electricity."

At that moment, Nami got up to refill her hot cocoa. Sanji would have gladly done it for her, but moving around should help her warm up faster. She brushed past Zoro close enough that her hand grazed one of his ears. A large static spark passed between them with an audible snapping sound. Zoro sat up suddenly, now fully awake.

"What was _that?_" He frowned and rubbed his ear.

"Nothing." Nami rolled her eyes. "It was just a little static electricity."

"The spark!" Chopper whispered, eyes wide. "Did you guys see it, too?"

"Yeah," Luffy agreed, grinning. "That was a big one!"

Usopp just bit back a snicker.

Zoro hadn't really been paying attention to the story and was a little confused, but Nami _had_ heard.

"It wasn't any of that 'spark' nonsense," she huffed. "The air is just very dry in here, and I'm wearing a wool sweater. It would have happened if I touched _anybody._"

"I definitely saw a spark," Chopper insisted.

"I'll prove it." Nami took a moment to consider who to use as an example.

"Ooh! Me!" Luffy helpfully stretched an arm over.

"You're rubber!" Nami slapped his hand away. "That won't work!"

"You can touch me any time you'd like, Nami-swan!" Sanji twirled over to take her empty mug. She reached out a tentative finger-that zap stung a little-and poked the back of one of Sanji's hands. Nothing happened. The cook actually looked a little disappointed.

"_Anybody,_ huh?" Usopp teased.

"Shut up," Nami snapped. "I must not have a charge built up anymore. Look, if I touch Zoro again-" There was another visible and audible zap as Nami's finger came in close enough proximity to Zoro's hand.

"Would you stop _doing_ that?" Zoro grumbled.

"That doesn't make any sense," Nami mumbled to herself. How could she have built up another charge already? Unless it was _Zoro..._ He hadn't moved very much, but he _did_ slide against the chair when he sat up. She eyed his clothing suspiciously. "What's that haramaki made of?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Take it off; I want to see if that's the problem."

"_What?_ No!" Zoro glared at her indignantly. "You just keep your hands to yourself and there _is_ no problem."

"Take it off," Nami ordered slowly and deliberately, "or I'll do it _for_ you."

"I'd like to see you try." His tone was defiant, but Nami looked equally determined.

"Uh oh..." Usopp sing-songed in a low voice. "This is going to get ugly!"

There was a tense moment of silence before Nami pounced without warning. The other boys gaped as mere seconds later Zoro was flat on his back on the galley floor, looking rather stunned, with Nami straddling his legs, the haramaki held aloft in one hand and a triumphant smirk on her face.

"Ha!" she crowed.

"My goodness," an amused voice observed from the doorway, "you all seem to be having quite a good time keeping warm." Robin walked over to the coffee pot and refilled her thermos as though she'd simply walked in on a game of cards.

Nami was back on her feet in seconds; Zoro was only a little slower.

"I was just proving a point," Nami explained, voice calm, though she was blushing a bit. Robin raised an inquiring brow. "There is no 'spark' between me and Zoro. See?" She reached over to grab Zoro's hand, only to produce the largest spark yet.

"They're getting stronger!" Chopper observed.

"Awesome!" Luffy hooted. "Do it again!"

"AARGH!" Nami threw her hands up in the air and stormed out of the galley.

"What's all this 'spark' crap about?" Zoro still didn't know exactly what was going on, but he was going to find out.

* * *

Nami huddled under one of her mikan trees, glowering and shivering every once in a while. She really should have thought to grab her coat on the way out, but she'd just been so _frustrated!_

"You trying to get yourself sick again or something? You ran out without your coat."

Great-it was Zoro.

"Way to state the obvious," she snapped. "Go away. I don't want to talk to you!"

"I always wondered what it would be like to be on the _rational, mature_ side of an argument." Nami kept her expression stony. She was _not_ going to rise to the bait of that sarcastic remark! "I don't know why you're mad at _me,_" Zoro continued. "I was a mostly innocent bystander."

"You sure didn't help with explaining anything."

"I didn't know what was going on!" There! He finally sounded _almost_ as flustered as her. That made her feel a little better. He mumbled something else under his breath that she didn't quite catch.

"What?"

"I _said,_ I don't get why this is such a big deal." He took a seat a few feet away from her. "It's just one of Usopp's stupid stories, and we _do_ have a connection. It's _not_ some super sappy thing," he added quickly when she glared at him. "We have an understanding. Both of us see the world a little different than the rest, except probably Robin, like back on Whiskey Peak when we both saw the trap right away. Anyway, I don't mind; I'd take that kind of bond over getting shocked every time we rub elbows any day. If you want to get all bent out of shape about it, that's your call."

"Did you follow me out here just to say that?"

"Well, no," he admitted. "There are two other reasons. First, I'd like my haramaki back."

Nami gasped. She hadn't even realized that she still had part of the article of clothing clenched in one of her fists. She made every effort to hide her embarrassment as she held the haramaki out to Zoro. His fingers brushed hers as he took it, but there was no zap this time. Zoro's hands were warm and not quite as rough as she thought they'd be. There was a lingering tingle in her chilled fingers that she told herself was simply from the heat exchange. The silence was beginning to feel awkward.

"You said there were two reasons," she prompted.

"Oh, yeah. I'm supposed to try and talk you back inside. The cook sent me out here because he thinks I should apologize, otherwise he'd be out here harassing you himself. You're welcome."

Nami rolled her eyes. "I think I'm going to stay out here a little longer."

"You sure? Robin's been giving demonstrations with static electricity; you should see what she can make Usopp's hair do-it's hilarious. Besides, your lips are looking a little blue."

"I still want a little space. I promise I'll be in soon."

"Okay." Zoro's tone implied that he thought she was a little crazy. "Dinner will be ready soon, and then nothing's gonna stop the idiot cook from coming to get you. Here." He shrugged off his own coat and held it out for her. "I'm going back in where it's warm, so I don't need it. I kind of stole it anyhow." Zoro was still using the winter coat he'd taken from one of Wapol's men.

"Thanks." She tried not to seem too eager as she pulled the coat on, reveling in the residual body heat. Zoro was like some kind of furnace! It must be all that muscle.

He grunted noncommittally and disappeared back into the galley. As soon as she was sure he was out of hearing range, she gave a contented sigh and snuggled into the coat.

The tingle had spread from her hand to most of her body now. It was infinitely preferable to the static, but it seemed to thrum almost like its own kind of electricity. She snorted at the thought-surely this wasn't anything like "the spark" Usopp had been rambling about, right? Of course not! She could get used to this sort of reaction though, she thought with a small smile.


	11. Fighting Dirty, K plus

**Title:** Fighting Dirty  
**Theme:** Set 4 #11 Swamp  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 1859  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warnings:** Nothing much.  
**Disclaimer(s):** I would be a more horrible liar than Usopp if I said the characters and setting were mine because they belong to Eiichiro Oda. (But I have 8000 readers who hang on my every word! Honest!)

Nami pouted at the marshy ground in front of her as though she could force it to instantly dry out through sheer force of will. She was surveying this uninhabited island, and the best high ground was surrounded by a swamp filled with thick, black mud. She'd roped Zoro into hefting around her equipment since he "wasn't doing anything important," no matter how much he protested that adequate sleep was critical.

"It's just mud." Zoro rolled his eyes. "It's not going to kill you."

"These are new shoes!" Nami retorted. "Besides, it's _gross._"

"Don't people pay stupid amounts of money to get covered in mud at spas?"

"That's different," Nami insisted. "Spa mud is special."

Zoro arched a skeptical brow. "Mud is mud."

"However you look at it, I don't want _this_ mud on my shoes."

"So, take 'em off." Zoro said it as though it were the most obvious idea _ever._

Nami wrinkled her nose in disgust at the mere thought of that black ooze in between her toes. "I don't want it on _me_, either!"

Zoro rolled his eyes and sighed in a disgruntled fashion. "Gimme your fancy shoes."

"Why?" This was highly suspicious.

"I'll carry them across with the supplies and come back for you. I'd let you keep them on, but I can't guarantee they'll stay clean unless I'm holding them over my head."

"_What?_" Nami glanced over at the marshy ground and then back at Zoro. "How deep _is_ that muck, anyhow?"

"I dunno." Zoro shrugged. "We could always just turn around, you know."

"No." Nami squared her shoulders, expression determined. "I can do this! I said I was going to chart every island, and I _will_-nasty mud or no nasty mud." She slipped off her shoes, but instead of handing them over to Zoro, she set them down under a tree. "I'll just leave them on this side. No one else is here but our crew, so they should be fine."

"Good call." Zoro unhooked his swords from his belt and propped them against the tree next to Nami's shoes.

He arranged the surveying equipment so that he could hold it easily above his head and began picking his way across the stretch of swampy ground. Nami was certain he was overreacting about the depth of the mud when he arrived back to pick her up and was only dirty up to his knees.

This wasn't the first time Zoro had given her a piggyback ride, but Nami still marveled at how effortlessly he could lift her. It was also strange to be able to feel the muscles in his back shifting under his skin as he walked.

"Don't you think you're being a little _too_ cautious?" she asked when they were about halfway across. Zoro was moving _very_ slowly.

"No, not really. I can't actually see where I'm putting my feet, so there won't be any warning if I step in a h-_whoa!_" They suddenly lurched slightly to the right and began sinking until Zoro was up to his armpits in mud. The descent was slow enough that Nami had time to scramble up and perch crouched on Zoro's shoulders, still avoiding the mud.

"That almost ended badly!" she remarked casually.

"Speak for yourself," Zoro grumbled. He'd managed to keep his left arm out of the mud, but his right wasn't so lucky. It was also pretty difficult to move buried this deep in the muck, but he ought to be able to manage. He pulled his trapped arm loose with a drawn out and rather disgusting slurping noise. "Hang on," he told his passenger, "I'm going to try to move."

Nami might have protested that she really had nothing to hang on _to_, but Zoro was already in motion. She was doing well enough at keeping her balance until Zoro ran into the edge of the hole and one of his feet slipped. She didn't fall, thanks in part to some assistance from Zoro, who grabbed both her ankles.

"Uh... Sorry?" Zoro couldn't see the muddy handprint he'd left on Nami's right leg, but they both knew it was there.

"I suppose I should have seen this coming," Nami ranted. "How hard is it _really_ to just carry me across? The equipment made it over just fine! You might as well just put me down, since I'm likely to wind up covered in mud _anyway._"

Nami couldn't see Zoro's ever darkening scowl. Here he'd been trying to be _nice,_ and what did it get him? The scowl morphed into a rather evil smile that Nami also didn't see.

"What's that? You want me to just put you down?" he asked in a faux innocent tone.

Nami recognized it for what it was instantly. "You wouldn't _dare!_" Zoro grabbed her ankles again. "Zoro, _NO!_" He yanked them backward.

Nami let out a bloodcurdling shriek as she hit the mud and sank in up to her chest. Then she glared at Zoro for all she was worth. He stared right back, expression impassive.

"This is going to add so much to your debt, you won't even be able to _dream_ about paying it off!" she threatened.

Zoro snorted. "Like I'm ever going to be able to pay _any_ of it off!" He turned back around and set about trying to find a way to climb out of the hole.

"Zoro, wait!" He fully intended to ignore Nami, but she sounded genuinely upset, so he looked back over his shoulder.

"What now, woman?"

"I'm really stuck!" She looked over at him pitifully, eyes wide. "I can hardly move at all!" Now she was hanging her head, the picture of abject misery.

Zoro's gut told him he should be suspicious-he was moving around just fine, what was her problem? Then again, he _was_ a lot stronger than her... In the end, he decided he couldn't just leave her there, even if she _was_ just being lazy.

"Give me your hand," he directed, rolling his eyes. "Could you _be_ any more helpless?"

"I dunno; could _you_ be any more gullible?"

He saw her malicious smirk a split second too late. She grabbed his outstretched hand and pulled for all she was worth. Refusing to be so easily defeated, Zoro snagged the back of her shirt on his way down. A short tussle later found both completely covered in swamp slime, pressed up against one another face to face, grinning reminiscent of their captain, and laughing at the ridiculous situation.

Eventually the mirth subsided, but they still stood, staring into each other's eyes. Zoro raised a hand and wiped some of the mud away from Nami's cheek. He let it linger there just a little longer than was really necessary.

"Maybe there _is_ something to that whole 'mud is good for your skin' thing."

"Oh, please." Nami rolled her eyes. "My skin was beautiful to begin with, but I suppose it couldn't do _you_ any harm! And don't think flattery is going to get you out of trouble-I really liked these clothes." Reluctantly, though she would never admit as much, she pulled away and headed for the shore near the hill. "Come on, let's get this over with; I want to get back to the ship for a nice, long bath."

The other side of the hole they were in was slick, and she was having trouble climbing out. Zoro made a weird noise behind her that she _assumed_ was him trying not to laugh and asked, "Need a little help?"

"Because that worked out _so well_ the last time!" She ignored him and made another attempt to climb back to the merely knee deep sludge, only to slide back down again when her foot slipped.

She squeaked indignantly when Zoro lifted her bodily from behind, spun her around, and threw her over one shoulder. "What do you think you're doing? You, you... muscle-head!" Where was a good zinger when she needed one?

"Hey, you said you wanted to get to the surveying quickly, right? I'll be setting you back down in no time."

"I really don't like you sometimes," she informed him sulkily, resigning herself to being hauled the rest of the way in such an undignified manner.

"Well, as long as it's only _sometimes,_" he retorted sarcastically. "Right back at you, by the way."

Secretly, they were both glad it was only "sometimes." Neither could deny they made each other's lives more interesting.

* * *

"And then the swamp monsters drag you down into the mud where you're absorbed by the swamp and turned into a swamp monster yourself! Fortunately, the Great Captain Usopp is far to clever to fall victim to such a fate!"

Chopper listened to Usopp's story with wide, terrified eyes. Luffy was also listening, though he looked more like he was planning to go looking for swamp monsters rather than fearing them.

"Are you telling them scary stories again?" Zoro's voice asked from behind the listeners. "You get to deal with any nightmares."

Usopp gaped at the mud-covered navigator and swordsman. "What happened to you two?"

Chopper and Luffy turned to look as well.

"Aaah! Swamp monsters! Run!" Chopper disappeared below deck at almost superhuman speed.

"No fair!" Luffy whined. "You guys were mud-wrestling without me?"

"There was no wrestling!" Nami snapped, stomping her foot for emphasis.

"There kind of _was_ a little," Zoro reminded her.

"You, shut up! I'm going to go bathe."

Once the navigator was safely out of earshot Usopp asked, "There _was?_"

Zoro shrugged noncommittally and headed for the galley-he was thirsty.

"I don't believe it..." Usopp shook his head, expression numbly blank.

"I know!" Luffy agreed. "They shouldn't be having that kind of fun without their captain!"

"Ugh." Usopp rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "Thanks a lot for _that_ mental image!"

"You're welcome."

"C'mon, Luffy. I want to see Sanji's reaction to Zoro tracking all that mud into his galley. Especially if he finds out _how_ he got so muddy..."


	12. Do Not Disturb, K plus

**Title:** Do Not Disturb  
**Theme:** Set 4 #29 Ark  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 1643  
**Rating:** PG?  
**Warnings:** Uh... I kind of spoil the climax of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" if you haven't seen it.  
**Disclaimer(s):** Maybe some day I will create a cast of captivating characters like those found here, but these belong to Eiichiro Oda.

If Robin hadn't known what to look for and recognized the subtle signs, the crew might have overlooked the ruined temple in which they currently found themselves. The ancient structure was concealed by overgrown vegetation and worn down by the ravages of time. While Robin was content to decipher wall carvings and a few fairly well preserved scrolls, the others set about collecting all they could carry from a stash of treasures in the main chamber.

Nami had been working her way across the room, selecting choice pieces here and there with a thief's eye for appraisal. When she reached the center of the space, she stared at an intricately carved golden chest lying in a place of honor on the main altar, nicely highlighted by sunlight streaming through a strategically placed skylight. She felt drawn to it as though it were calling her name. She reached out a hand toward it and jumped as someone caught hold of her wrist.

"You should leave it alone."

"Zoro?" She frowned at him, but his attention was focused on the chest he was preventing her from opening. Robin also stood nearby, the chest apparently having caught her attention as well. "Let go of my arm. There's no reason I can't take a look-it's just a box!"

"I believe it's an ark," the archeologist mused. "It was likely crafted to protect the most sacred objects in this temple."

"If it's protecting something like that, you shouldn't disturb it," Zoro reiterated.

"That just means the contents are probably extremely valuable!" Nami argued petulantly. "Besides, what are you so worried about? I thought you didn't _believe_ in gods."

"I don't _have_ to believe in this god to know that his _followers_ might have believed enough to booby trap that thing." Zoro was still eyeing the chest like it might attack at any moment. "I... just have a bad feeling about it, that's all."

"What's the worst that could happen? It's not like it's going to melt my face off!"

"Actually," Robin cut in, "pressurized acid _is_ a possibility. It wouldn't be so dramatic as a melted face, but there would certainly be burning and scarring." She relayed the information as casually as though she were commenting on the weather. Nami gave the ark another once over, hesitation warring with curiosity.

"Oh, all right, I'll leave it be." She turned away from the object, but she planned to come back and investigate it further when she could do so without interruption.

* * *

Zoro's eyes snapped open. Moments before he'd been sound asleep, but now he felt completely awake and on edge. Something was very wrong. He sat up and looked around.

Having spent a long time exploring the temple and its surroundings, the crew decided to camp near the temple instead of traveling all the way back to the ship in the failing light. They had stayed up late, chatting and exchanging stories around the campfire until they'd all eventually nodded off, splayed out around the fire like the spokes of a wheel. Zoro gazed across the dying embers and started counting sleeping forms, mentally ticking off names as he went. Nami was missing.

Zoro cursed under his breath as he stood. He had a pretty good idea where the navigator went. The shape of the temple loomed ominously in the dark jungle, the soft moonlight exaggerating the sense of desolation already present.

Zoro entered and found his eyes automatically drawn to the altar with the ark, now spotlighted in the bluish moonlight in place of the golden beams present during the day. There was no sign of Nami, but Zoro headed straight for it anyhow.

Zoro glared at the ark, eyes narrowed. It was still resonating the unsettling feeling he'd picked up earlier. _"Go away,"_ it seemed to say. _"Don't touch."_ Several dark spots on the ground in front of the chest caught his eye. He was fairly sure they hadn't been there earlier. They appeared to be drops of liquid, shining black in the moonlight. Zoro swiped the first two fingers of his left hand through one of the drops and found the consistency to be unfortunately very familiar. He raised the fingers to his nose and was greeted by the coppery scent of fresh blood. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and he couldn't suppress a low growl. If Nami was hurt...

A figure rose up in the shadows on the other side of the altar. Apparently whoever it was had been crouching there and was alerted to his presence by the growl. Zoro's hands were instantly on the hilts of his swords, but he was stopped short of attacking by a familiar voice.

"Zowo?" Nami's first question was muffled by the presence of the tip of her right index finger in her mouth. She removed it before continuing. "What are you doing in here?"

"Nami." The name was as much an exclamation of relief as recognition. He frowned down at her hand and the wound visible on her finger. "Let me see that." He reached out and grabbed her hand before she could protest, pulling her closer so he could get a good look at her injury.

"It's just a little cut," she protested. Nami tried to pull her hand away, but Zoro's grip, though gentle, was as unyielding as iron.

"What happened?" He had a pretty good idea, but he wanted confirmation.

"It doesn't matter; I'll be fine."

"_What happened?_" Zoro tone wasn't loud or angry, but it was clear that he wasn't going to let the matter drop. "Was it that stupid ark?" Now he _did_ sound angry, though it wasn't directed at her.

"Well yeah, but-" Before she could finish, Zoro was dragging her back toward the entrance and their camp.

"Chopper should take a look at it."

"Hey!" She dug in her heels and managed to slow him down just a tad. "I told you I'll be fine! You're acting like that thing's _poisoned_ or something!" Zoro stopped dragging her, but he wouldn't meet her questioning gaze. "What's _with_ you and that ark?"

At first, she thought he wasn't going to answer her, but then he sighed and spoke. "You know I have a cursed sword, right?"

"Uh huh. The red one, right? You really believe it's cursed?" Zoro didn't seem like the superstitious sort.

"I can _feel_ it when I'm near it, and it's even stronger when I touch it. That chest over there isn't exactly the same, but it's close enough to bother me. If you'd gotten seriously hurt because I didn't do enough to keep you out of harm's way, it'd be just as bad as hurting you myself."

"You really mean that, don't you?" It came out less snide than she'd initially intended it to be because she was rather touched-not that she'd ever let on about it. Zoro looked out for everybody, but some of the crew got extra effort, and she'd always felt just a little special that she was one of them. "Anyway, you don't have to worry about it anymore."

"Oh really?" He was clearly skeptical.

"I was examining the locking mechanism when I got this." She gestured toward the cut on her finger. "A jagged edge like that means that the lock's been forced open before, so if there was anything valuable in there, it's bound to be gone now."

Zoro had a gut feeling the box was anything _but_ empty, but if Nami was giving up on it, he wasn't about to press the issue. He _was_ curious about one thing, though...

"Why were you hiding when I came in?"

"I wanted to get a look at how bad the cut was without anyone walking in and seeing me," Nami admitted. "This is a pretty embarrassing mistake for a thief like me-I'm obviously very out of practice!"

Zoro shrugged. "You don't have to be a thief anymore; you're our navigator now."

"But I'm a _pirate_ navigator, so the thieving skills could still come in handy." Any further comments she may have had were cut off by a massive yawn. "Can Chopper look at my cut in the morning? I'm beat..."

"As long as you'll really have him check it then." Zoro was leveling a stern gaze at her that he usually reserved for Luffy and Usopp after particularly stupid stunts.

Nami laughed. "I have a sneaking suspicion _somebody's_ going to make sure I do!"

"I might not." Zoro was trying hard to sound like he didn't care, but it was a bit late for that. "I've got important stuff to do with my time, like training."

"_Right..._" Nami decided to be gracious and let the topic drop. "Carry me back to camp?"

"_What?_ Why would I do that?"

"I'm injured!"

"Not any place that keeps you from walking!" He turned on his heel and started walking away.

"Hey! At least _wait_ for me, you unchivalrous jerk!"

Nami hurried after Zoro, and once their bickering faded in the distance, the temple returned to a state of utter stillness. The ark sat in its place of honor, awaiting the next soul foolish enough to attempt to open it.


	13. Works Like a Charm, K

**Title:** Works Like a Charm  
**Theme:** Set 4 #1 Clouds  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 5,261 (Long, late piece is late and long.)  
**Rating:** PG at most  
**Warnings:** Intentional, magically induced OOC for the fun of it!  
**Disclaimer(s):** If you recognize the characters, it's because you've read the brilliant work of Mr. Eiichiro Oda. I love them like my own, but they're not. The love charm is based upon the "dust of broken heart" in the film "Willow." As such, it is technically the brainchild of a combination of George Lucas and Bob Dolman.

Nami awoke with a smile on her face. Today was the best day of the year-her birthday. She hummed to herself as she picked out an outfit, and she practically skipped into the galley for breakfast, where Sanji had prepared a special meal for her.

"You look particularly radiant this morning, Nami-swan," the cook cooed as he placed a plate with delicate crepes spread with orange marmalade and topped with fresh whipped cream in front of her.

"Thank you, Sanji-kun." She smiled at him as she picked up her fork. "Can I expect another birthday present?" She was _mostly_ teasing, knowing full well he'd likely had a gift selected and wrapped for weeks now, but Sanji's reaction was drowned out by most of the others seated at the table.

She didn't drop hints that her birthday was coming up because she enjoyed watching the boys, except for Sanji, who would of course _never_ forget such a momentous occasion, and Zoro, who refused to outwardly panic, flail around trying to come up with gifts on short notice. It always made things more interesting, and sometimes the gifts were nicer than they would have been otherwise because the givers felt guilty.

The ship had just docked the night before at a populated island, and Nami hadn't had a chance to explore the shopping opportunities yet. She decided a shopping trip with Robin sounded like a pretty nice gift to herself. Everyone else also decided to get some important shopping done-present seeking for all but Sanji, who was shopping for food-except for Zoro, who offered to watch the ship.

Nami knew she wasn't going to get a wrapped gift from the swordsman, but they had a system. Her first birthday with the crew, Zoro remarked where she could hear that if he had no money to purchase a gift with, it was really Nami's own fault. She'd really believed he planned to ignore her birthday until she'd entered her room and found the furnishings rearranged. She'd been trying for weeks to get someone to help her switch the places of her bed and desk so she could better use the natural light from the porthole. At that time, there was only one crew member strong enough to move the furniture by himself while maintaining enough control so as not to break anything. (Besides, Luffy had already given her a gift.) Now he always managed to find some equivalent gesture on her birthday. He never admitted to any of it, so she never openly thanked him, but she was grateful all the same and suspected he knew it. She was curious to see what he had planned for this year...

* * *

Much to Nami's disappointment, there were very few shops in the town specializing in clothing, and those few stocked mainly simple, functional garb. Robin hadn't found much to her liking either. If she had been interested in purchasing a farmer's almanac, it might have been different, but there simply weren't any shops selling the sort of scholarly texts the archeologist enjoyed.

The women stopped for coffee at a small cafe that turned out to be owned by a man with a passion for history. He and Robin were having an animated discussion that Nami had lost track of some time ago. She knew a fair bit of history, but her knowledge was not nearly as in depth as theirs.

She glanced across the street and noticed a small shop advertising charms, potions, and the like. Nami was skeptical of that sort of thing, but it might be a more interesting place to pass the time than being the third wheel in the current conversation.

She informed Robin that she was heading over to the shop, receiving only an absent nod in acknowledgement.

Nami was about to open the door to the small shop when she heard an angry yowl from the alley to the right of the building, followed by the rather cruel laughter of children. She darted around the corner to find two young boys attempting to tie a string of empty cans to the tail of a large and very unhappy black cat.

"Hey!" she called out, startling the boys, who ran off as fast as they could without even looking back.

"Run! It's the witch!"

She knelt down to help free the cat from its predicament, only to have it take a swipe at her for her trouble.

"You ungrateful little..." Nami grumbled.

The cat darted back around the corner onto the main street, and she found it meowing and scratching on the door of the shop. There didn't seem any way for Nami to enter the shop without letting the cat in with her, but she supposed she could always help shoo it back out if necessary. Pushing the door inward set off a small set of wind chimes. A few moments after she entered the shop, a woman in a colorful patchwork dress and shawl entered the main room through another door covered by a beaded curtain. The cat darted over and rubbed on her legs, purring loudly enough to be heard across the room.

"_There_ you are, Midnight!" the woman cooed. "Snuck outside again, did you?"

"I guess that means it's all right that I let him in?"

The shopkeeper didn't respond to Nami, still fussing over the cat.

"Those rotten little boys were probably after you again. I've _told_ you it's safer inside!"

The cat responded with and angry huff, but then purred some more as he was scratched under the chin. After a few moments of affection the cat was apparently satisfied and trotted off through the curtain. Finally, Nami found the shopkeeper's attention turned to herself.

"I don't know how he keeps slipping past me at the door, but thank you very much for returning him. Can I interest you in a complimentary charm for your trouble?"

Nami was a little torn-free stuff was free stuff, but she was pretty sure there wasn't anything here that would be of any use to her whatsoever.

"No offense," she replied after a bit of thought, "but I don't really believe in charms. I've always had to make things happen on my own."

"Well then, taking one can do no harm can it?" Nami thought she caught a flash of mischief in the woman's eyes, but it was gone too quickly for her to be sure. "I think I know just the one for a skeptic such as yourself."

Intrigued despite herself, Nami watched as the shopkeeper opened a drawer beneath the main counter and pulled out what appeared to be a very small bag with a cinched top hanging from a ribbon long enough to be a necklace. The woman laid the tiny bag on the counter with the utmost care, like it were made of the most fragile crystal rather than cloth.

"This bag contains a powder that is a very strong love charm," the woman explained. "Inhaling just a few grains can dramatically enhance a person's affections for another."

"I don't need a love potion."

"Oh, I'm quite certain you don't _need_ it," the woman agreed, "but the world of piracy can be a dangerous place for a woman. It never hurts to have a little extra power of... _persuasion._"

"Who says I'm a pirate?" Nami eyed the smirking stranger warily. Could this be some sort of trap?

"Call it an educated guess," the woman answered evasively.

"I'm persuasive enough on my own, _really._ Thanks but no thanks."

"You wouldn't necessarily have to use it yourself," the woman continued to wheedle. "Love charms, especially ones such as this that are almost guaranteed to work, can fetch quite a pretty penny from the right person."

The thought of some quick money was obviously the first part of that statement that caught Nami's attention, but she also made note of something else.

"Wait, _almost_ guaranteed?" Why would you point out the flaws of something in a sales pitch? Nami couldn't help being curious. "What do you mean?"

"This magic cannot create feelings, only enhance what already exists," the woman explained. "If someone truly hated you, it would have no effect at all, and in the case of those not inclined toward your gender or with purely friendly affection, the effect is _far_ less dramatic. Also, the effects are not permanent, and a sudden shock will snap the target out of the spell."

"Seriously?" Nami snorted. "What good is a love charm that only works on people who already have feelings for you anyway?"

"Haven't you ever known someone reluctant to express emotion?" the shop keeper asked with a small, knowing smile. "Or perhaps someone too stubborn to give in to what they want?"

Nami immediately thought of Zoro, but she wasn't about to say anything! Besides, she didn't have any _proof_ he was hiding feelings, romantic or otherwise. Maybe he really _was_ just impassive all the time! After a few more moments of silent consideration, she found herself agreeing to accept the charm.

"One last thing!" the shop keeper called out to her just as she was about to leave. "Be careful not to over use the charm on any one person, for the effects are cumulative. The first dose may produce only a mild effect, but it grows stronger each time."

* * *

"...And that's what she told me," Nami explained her new acquisition to Robin as they walked back to the ship for lunch. One of her hands subconsciously rose to protectively cover the small bag hanging from the ribbon around her neck.

"I see." Robin's frown was small enough to be almost imperceptible, but Nami knew her well enough to take notice.

"What's wrong? I'm not planning to actually _use_ it, and it probably doesn't even really work!"

"In the Grand Line, it is best to assume that even the most impossible claims have at least some truth," Robin cautioned. "It is almost never a good idea to manipulate someone else's emotions," the archeologist continued. "Forcing someone to express a sentiment such as love takes something away from the significance, don't you think?"

"I guess... Like I said, though, I'm not planning to use it on anyone." Secretly, Nami was still tempted to try the effects on a certain someone. One little dose would only have a mild effect, if any, right? Where was the harm?

They ran into Chopper a short ways from the docks, and he was soon cheerfully describing all the herbs and medicines he'd purchased earlier. Robin was always interested in learning new information, but Nami, though just as concerned about the crew's health as anyone, decided to walk ahead a little. Consequently, she was the first back to the ship.

"Hello? Zoro?" She didn't see the swordsman from the top of the gangplank, but she supposed he could be in the crow's nest or below deck somewhere.

"Nami?" Zoro appeared from inside the surveying room. As he made his way over to her, she wondered if he'd been working on his gift for this year, but she couldn't think of anything she needed done there. "Is it lunch time already?"

She opened her mouth to reply, only to have a familiar voice from behind her crow, "Lunch!" Luffy rocketed past her, knocking her off balance. She overcorrected and stumbled forward, right into Zoro. The charm bounced off of Zoro's sternum, releasing a tiny cloud of shimmering gold powder, which he inhaled and then sneezed. In the background, Luffy had overshot his goal and landed in the water on the other side of the ship with a splash.

Normally, Zoro would have immediately gone after their anchor of a captain, but now he just stood there, staring intensely at Nami with an expression she couldn't quite place. She was fairly certain it was at least partly confusion, but the rest was something she didn't think she'd ever seen from him. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable, and Luffy wasn't about to start sinking any slower.

"Um, shouldn't you go fish Luffy out of the water?"

Zoro blinked, as though snapping out of some kind of trance, and then rushed to the railing and dove in to retrieve the captain. Once back aboard, he seemed to be acting normally, the strange expression nowhere to be seen.

* * *

After lunch, Nami sat under one of her mikan trees, studying the innocent looking charm as it hung from the ribbon clenched in her fist. Had it really had an effect on Zoro, or had she seen a reaction because she expected to see something? He had certainly inhaled more than just a few grains!

"What's that?" She'd been so focused that she hadn't noticed Luffy walking up behind her, and he wasn't exactly the epitome of stealth!

"Nothing special," she lied, trying to think of a place to hide the charm until she'd decided what to do with it.

"Can I see?" Luffy's surprisingly strong rubbery grip plucked the charm from her hands before she could blink. "What's in this tiny bag?"

"Luffy, _no!_" She dove forward in an effort to stop her captain from opening the charm. If it really _did_ work, who knew what kind of chaos it would cause if Luffy got a snoot full? He'd already managed to open the top of the bag a little before she got to him, unthinkingly slapping the item out of his hand. It flew over the railing to the deck below.

"What the hell?" Zoro's groggy voice asked.

_Oh no!_ Nami thought. She hurried down the stairs just in time to see Zoro confusedly examining a very _empty_ small bag. It had apparently landed on his head as he napped against the wall, dumping its contents into a shimmering pile that still sat on top of his head. Nami watched with growing horror as he reached up a hand to brush off the powder.

"_Wait!_" she called out, but it was too late-Zoro's entire upper body was momentarily enveloped by a golden cloud many times larger than his first exposure. It hung in place for a few long moments before a stiff breeze blew it away out to sea. Zoro coughed and fanned a hand in front of himself, cursing under his breath. When he raised his eyes, he was looking directly at Nami.

"Oh no..." Nami repeated in dismay, only aloud this time.

"What's wrong?" In a flash, Zoro was right by her side, expression more concerned than she'd ever seen him outside of a life or death emergency situation. "It pains me to see you anything but happy!"

Nami gaped at him, eyes wide. "What?"

"How can I help fix whatever is wrong? I'll do anything you ask!" He was clutching one of her hands in both of his own, and unless she was mistaken, he seemed to be moving his face closer to hers. She tried to pull her hand away, but Zoro's grip was firm.

"Let go!" she ordered, fighting back panic. This wasn't at all the Zoro she was used to! It was like he'd been possessed by the male lead of a romance novel! He was almost worse than Sanji could be on occasion...

"Of course!" Zoro released her hand but didn't move back at all. "Forgive me. I didn't hurt you did I?" He looked extremely distraught at the thought. "I would die before knowingly causing you pain! Please say you're all right!"

"I'm fine..." She cursed herself for ever thinking she wanted to see what Zoro might be like under the charm's influence. She missed his normal calm, almost apathetic demeanor. She'd even be happy to see him be grumpy and annoying-anything but this strange man that only _looked_ like her crew mate.

"What's going on out here?" Apparently Zoro's lamentation had drawn the attention of the rest of the crew. Nami felt her face burn in embarrassment and shame for what she'd inadvertently caused. There wasn't going to be any way to hide this before she could fix it, _if_ she could fix it!

"It was an accident!" she blurted.

"_What_ was an accident?" Usopp wondered aloud.

"Hey, Nami, where'd that cool little bag go?" As if to help answer the question, Luffy bounded down onto the main deck and scooped up the now empty charm that Zoro had discarded when he grabbed her hand. "Aw, it's empty!" he exclaimed, peering inside.

"Oh dear." Robin's eyes widened-the equivalent of an expression of shock on anyone else.

"I'm confused..." Usopp scratched his head.

"What are you doing, holding Nami's hand like that, marimo?" Sanji demanded.

"None of your business, crap cook!" Zoro turned to glower at Sanji for a moment, and Nami briefly hoped he'd somehow managed to return to normal. That is, until he turned back to her and his face resumed the sappy expression that looked so very wrong on his features. "What goes on between sweet Nami and I is _no one's_ business but our own."

Several jaws dropped, and Nami wished the deck would open up and swallow her. She wrenched her hand free of Zoro's grasp and ran in the nearest door, which happened to be the aquarium bar, slamming it behind her on a very perplexed crew.

A few moments later, there was a knock at the door, followed by Robin's perpetually calm voice. "Would you mind letting us inside with you? It seems we have an... _issue_ to discuss."

Realizing that she was unlikely to really be able to hide out in the bar _forever_, Nami reluctantly opened the door so the rest of the crew could enter. Zoro happened to be the last in line, and she halted him with a palm pressed to his chest.

"Not you."

"Why not? If we're talking about something that concerns everybody, I should hear it too." It was a reasonable statement, and those appeared to be rare under the powder's effects, but she couldn't handle him just then.

"Because," she drew out the word as she frantically tried to come up with a reason this crazy, deluded Zoro might believe, "someone needs to be on guard, just in case something happens!" Zoro's brows drew together in a confused frown. "Please? I always feel safest when I know you're on watch!"

That did it. The goofy, smitten expression was back on his face. "Well... Okay, but just for _you._" She shut the door in his face before he could add anything else.

She was struck again by a strong feeling of _wrongness_. That sort of flattery wasn't supposed to work on Zoro-he wasn't like that. She turned around to find the others watching her with varying degrees of shock and befuddlement.

"I'm _still_ confused," Usopp announced, "and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one!"

There didn't seem to be anything for it but to explain exactly what happened. She took a deep breath and started with rescuing the cat and ended with Zoro being exposed to almost the full contents of the charm.

"I know he can't control it, but seeing him this way is just..." She floundered for a moment, trying to come up with an appropriate adjective."

"Creepy?" Usopp suggested. "It's kind of like having two Sanjis."

"I am _not_ creepy!" The cook bristled and Usopp scooted away. "Right, Nami-swan?" His expression when he turned to her reminded her of a kicked puppy.

"No," she reassured him, fighting not to roll her eyes. "It's _normal_ for you to act how you do, but this isn't how m-_our_ Zoro behaves. Him being like this is just..."

"Wrong?" This time Robin supplied the description. Nami was sure the archeologist had picked up on her slip of the tongue, but in typical Robin fashion, she said nothing, though Nami was sure she was filing that tidbit away for later use.

"How could we cure him?" Chopper mused aloud. "If I had a sample of the powder, I might be able to compound an antidote, but it's all gone..."

"Well, if worst comes to worst, it's not supposed to be permanent, right?" Usopp asked. "I mean, would it really be so bad to let it wear off on its own?"

"We don't know how long that might take with such a large dose," Robin argued, "and if it was only meant to be used in small amounts, there could be lasting side effects."

It physically pained Nami to think that she may have permanently altered Zoro. "We _have_ to do something!" she insisted.

"Zoro was exposed to the powder once before, correct?" Robin asked, and Nami nodded an affirmative response. "And he appeared to have returned to normal after retrieving Captain-san?"

"Yes..." Nami considered it. "Maybe it was the shock of hitting the cold water?"

"Right, then." Sanji nodded decisively. "Why don't we just toss the Captain over the side again? This is mostly his fault anyway."

"Nuh uh!" Luffy argued. "I just wanted to see, and Nami wouldn't let me!"

"We're _not_ tossing Luffy in the ocean," Nami vetoed the idea with a roll of her eyes.

"There are... other methods of delivering a sudden shock." Robin smiled slightly, looking pointedly at Franky. All the men in the room shifted uncomfortably.

"I'd rather not hurt him," Nami protested. "For once, none of this is his fault!"

"Does anyone have any other ideas?" Usopp's question was met by silence. They all sat and stared at one another for a few moments until Zoro poked his head in the door.

"I haven't seen anything on watch," he announced. He kept his eyes fixed on Nami the whole time.

"Then why are you in here?" she asked.

"Because I wanted to see _you_."

Nami set her face in a determined expression. She was _going_ to fix this! She walked over, grabbed Zoro's wrist, and dragged him outside and over to the railing. She ignored the puzzled expressions of the others.

"I want to show you something, Zoro."

"Okay." He still hadn't looked at anything but her.

"It's in the water," she told him. "You'll need to lean over the rail to get a good look. I _really_ want you to see it."

"Anything you want." He obligingly leaned out above the water, peering down at the waves.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled and shoved him over the side.

"I guess that works, too," Usopp's voice mused. She turned to see the rest of the crew had followed them out. She heard Zoro break the surface, spluttering and cursing. Luffy stretched an arm down and pulled him back on board.

Zoro locked eyes with her briefly before seeming to find the deck very interesting. He opened his mouth several times like he was going to say something but closed it again. His expression flashed quickly through a broad range of emotions before he managed to settle on a carefully blank one. Without saying a word, he retreated to the gym.

Nami could _completely_ understand not wanting to face anyone else right now. In fact, she took a page from the swordsman's book and locked herself in the surveying room. Sometimes going over works in progress or starting a new map could be very calming for her. Though she let herself get absorbed in the task, she couldn't quite lose herself in it completely, her mind still wandering to the love charm fiasco.

She glanced up and looked around the room. Zoro had been in here earlier, but nothing looked any different than it had the last time she was here. If he'd done something for her birthday, it wasn't here in the surveying room.

Her stomach grumbled unhappily, and she realized it was approaching dinner time. Sanji never let anyone, especially a lady, skip meals, and since it was her own birthday dinner, he was certain to be especially insistent about it. She steeled herself and decided to head to the galley before she had to be fetched.

The delicious aroma of some of her favorite dishes greeted her as she walked in the door, followed by carefully casual greetings from several crew members. Everyone was present except Zoro. She took a seat next to Robin, who glanced up from her book long enough to acknowledge her presence with a small nod and slight smile.

"He hasn't come down at all, has he?" Nami asked, knowing Robin could read and follow conversations at the same time. She'd pitched her voice low enough that she hoped only Robin would hear, but that was really just wishful thinking.

"I'm not surprised," Sanji remarked with a smirk. "If _I'd_ made an idiot of myself like that, I'd be hiding too."

Usopp had a sudden coughing fit that sounded suspiciously like "Pot-kettle-black!" Sanji glared at him and shifted his weight to one foot. Usopp hid behind Franky.

"_Anyway,_" the cook continued, "I suppose I'll have to go drag him down to eat."

"I'll do it," Nami declared. "I want to get all of this straightened out once and for all." When Sanji looked like he wanted to protest, she added, "I really do want to handle this myself. You wouldn't stop me from doing what I want on my birthday, would you?"

She realized everyone else was also giving her wary looks.

"It'll be _fine!_" She managed to rein in her expression to a small frown instead of a full on scowl. "Tell you what, if I'm not back in ten minutes you can send a rescue party."

* * *

She'd meant the "rescue party" thing as a joke, but she felt increasingly nervous the closer she got to the gym. Zoro hadn't _seemed_ angry before, but now he'd had hours to brood about it. She lifted the trapdoor just a few inches and peeked inside. Zoro was sitting in a meditative pose about ten feet away with his back to the entrance. He didn't acknowledge her arrival, though she was certain he knew both that someone had arrived and who it was.

"It's time for dinner," she announced, throwing caution to the wind. She may as well get it over with quickly. "We're waiting for you. Everybody knows you weren't in control of yourself earlier, so let's just forget all about it."

"It's not that easy," he muttered.

"I know it was probably embarrassing for you-it definitely was for _me_-but I understand the powder was just making you say and do things you didn't really mean." She knew that wasn't how the charm worked, it was meant to enhance existing feelings, but she hoped the lie might help Zoro put it behind him.

"I _wouldn't_ have said those things," Zoro agreed, "but not for the reason you think."

She hadn't expected Zoro to be willing to talk about it. Maybe there were still some residual effects from that very large dose? Nami climbed the rest of the way into the room, intrigued.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not very good with words."

"I've noticed," she taunted playfully. That got her an unamused look and an eye roll. She was absurdly pleased to get any sort of response, especially one typical of the usual Zoro. She sat down next to him, leaving a small distance between them.

"It's too easy to sound stupid," Zoro continued, ignoring her interjection. It _was true_; most of what he'd said under the charm _had_ been ridiculous! "Some feelings are the same. Just because I don't say it out loud or make it obvious doesn't mean it's not there. The things I choose to do, or _not_ to do, show how I feel and what I care about." She waited for him to elaborate further, but that seemed to be all he was going to say.

Her mind wandered to their birthday gift system. He didn't ever _say_ anything about it, but he always made sure to do something. That meant she was important to him, right? The silence between them didn't feel as heavy and awkward as it had when she'd first entered the room. She'd missed the mostly quiet, if usually moody, Zoro. She took a few moments to revel in the fact that he was back the way she'd discovered she liked him best.

"We should head down to the galley." She stood and turned for the door. "I'm looking forward to opening my gifts after we eat." Zoro cursed. "What's wrong now? I already know you never buy me anything. I haven't figured out what you _did_ do this year, but I'm sure it'll do."

"That's just it," Zoro grumbled, "I never got around to it! I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do before the whole powder thing happened. I _meant_ to..." He looked genuinely regretful, so she decided to be gracious.

"Actually, you _did_ give me something special this year."

"Huh?" He was clearly confused. She supposed she couldn't blame him.

"You gave me a birthday I will _never_ forget!"

"Never?" He didn't look like that was a very appealing concept.

"Never _ever_. Of course, if you want to make it up to me, there are still some shops here I haven't gotten to visit yet, and I'll need someone to carry my surveying tools, too. I may not have had to pay for that charm, but I might have been able to sell it for a decent amount." She was gracious in her own way.

"Why am I not surprised this comes back to my debt? Oh well, I guess I haven't had a chance to see this island yet anyway. Greedy, slave-driving witch..." He was grateful in his.

She was fairly certain neither one of them would have the other any other way.


	14. Gratitude, K plus

**Title:** Gratitude  
**Theme:** Set 4 #28 Sky  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 1,576  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warnings:** A little bit of violence and a lot of awkward.  
**Disclaimer(s):** I own them only in the form of some merchandise; their magnificent creator is Eiichiro Oda.

"You guys are seriously going to regret this," Zoro informed his captors. His speech was a little slurred and he remained a tad groggy, aftereffects of some kind of drug. He could still feel a dull sting at the back of his neck where a dart had struck him as he was walking down the street.

"Shut up!" the leader of the group snapped.

"Make me." Zoro smirked at another member of the gang, who was nursing a bitten hand from a failed attempt to gag the swordsman earlier. Apparently, the drugs wore off faster than expected, and though he was still incapacitated, it had taken all four of his abductors to hold him down long enough to bind him. They were in some secluded back alley of the island's main city.

"Maybe we should have waited to use one of her other comrades as bait," a third man grumbled.

"It's too late now!" the boss declared. "We'll work with what we've got! He's secured now, so all we have to do is wait for that sneaky little thief to come for him."

Actually, Zoro wasn't very secure at all! He was in the process of working his way out of his rope prison; in a few more minutes these idiots were toast. Might as well keep them talking so they wouldn't suspect anything. Not that he couldn't take them out blindfolded and with both hands tied behind his back. He had no idea how these fools had managed to find their way to the Grand Line.

"I already told you, she's not going to come here just for me. She knows I can take care of myself, and she's not stupid enough to walk into a trap."

The leader ignored him, turning to the fourth man. "You delivered the note, just like I said?"

"Yeah, boss. Told her to bring back the amount she stole from us and where to go and everything."

It turned out this was a group of thugs that Nami had stolen from years ago, and when they'd discovered they were on this island at the same time, they'd decided to take revenge. The money was news to Zoro.

"You asked her to give you back _money?_" Zoro gaped at the man, momentarily shocked out of continuing his escape. "Are you _insane?_ She's definitely going to show up, but you won't like it!"

"We're not afraid of some conniving little twit with sticky fingers," the man jeered. "What's she going to do against four men?"

Zoro heard a rumbling sound and looked up to find that the previously clear, blue sky had darkened to a roiling thunderhead, but only above their general vicinity.

"You're about to find out." With that parting statement, Zoro rolled to the side just in time to escape a sudden rain of lightning bolts. The four morons weren't so lucky.

"Conniving little twit, huh?" Nami stepped around a corner at the entrance to the alley and stomped over to the ringleader. She grabbed him by the collar and shook the semiconscious and blackened man. "That money was stolen to begin with, which made it fair game! You're never going to see a single beli of it _ever again!_"

Zoro walked up behind her, now free of the ropes. "Told you you wouldn't like it."

"You sure took your sweet time untying yourself!" Nami turned her still wrathful focus to Zoro.

"There were a lot of ropes!" Zoro retorted defensively. Speaking of which, he began tying up the fried bandits. Nami took another rope and set to work as well. They could leave these guys for the marines to collect.

"And what's this about making it sound like I _only_ came here because of the money?" Nami continued to rant, yanking viciously on the loose ends of the knot she was currently tying. "You really think I care more about money than one of my friends?"

"I didn't mean it like that!" She seemed really upset, and he was starting to feel guilty, even though he hadn't intended any offense. Plus, he hadn't known she was listening the whole time. That was annoying. "I was trying to distract them while I broke loose, and don't even _try_ to tell me the money part isn't what made you really angry!"

"Maybe I _should_ have just let you sit there and stew for longer! You're _so_ ungrateful!"

"_I'm_ ungrateful? How many times have I saved your life? I've honestly lost count, and not _once_ have you ever been appropriately grateful!"

"Seriously?" She turned to face him, jaw set and hands on her hips. "What, pray tell, is 'appropriate' gratitude? Why don't you _show_ me how the damsel in distress should react."

"Okay, first of all, I was _not_ a 'damsel in distress!' Secondly, I don't have to prove anything to you, and definitely _not_ in front of an audience!" The four men had regained consciousness and were now watching to two argue with wide eyes.

"What's wrong with the audience? Is your idea of gratitude inappropriate in public?" Nami taunted with a smirk. He hated when she was so stubbornly unreasonable! Never mind he had the same problem...

"You really want to know? _Fine._" He stomped over to her and grabbed one of her hands in a firm grip. "Thank you for saving me."

She gaped at him for a few long seconds. "That's _it?_ You're making a big deal out of a hand shank and a simple 'thank you?'"

"The _point_ is that it's _not_ a big deal!" Now he just felt silly, and that was even more annoying than everything else! "How hard is it to just say thanks? Besides, you ought to know I'm not the swooning, 'My hero!' sort."

"Are you implying that I _am_ that type?" she asked, one brow raised.

"You're putting words in my mouth again," he groused, but for some reason he was having trouble looking her in the eye at the moment.

"Well, maybe I am." He suspected she was laughing at him on the inside, if not out loud. He needed to make light of the situation so he didn't seem like he was showing vulnerability because he totally _wasn't._

"Tell you what, how about you _actually_ save my life sometime, and maybe I'll humor you and swoon."

The words were scarcely out of his mouth when the world went crazy. The leader of the gang somehow managed to untie himself and aimed a gun at him. Maybe he still saw Zoro as the bigger threat and decided to take him out first-he didn't have time to ponder it. Nami dove at him, knocking him to the ground, her body on top of his, as the gun fired. The bullet passed harmlessly over the top of them. She must have had the lightning portion of the Clima-Tact in hand already, and she zapped the man with a large thunder ball before he could make another move.

It was all over in a matter of seconds, though it seemed like much longer. He could feel Nami's chest moving against his own as they lay there gasping as the adrenaline wore off. The position was pretty awkward, but he wasn't going to say anything if she wasn't.

"Looks like I just saved your life," she informed him, tone cocky even though her voice was shaky. So, she wanted to see who would back down first? Roronoa Zoro _never_ backed down from a challenge.

"My hero." He lifted his head the few inches between their faces and pressed his lips to hers in a brief brush of a kiss. It barely counted at all, really.

She pulled back and gaped at him again. "Z-Zoro..." She was actually kind of cute when she blushed. Now things were _really_ awkward...

"Of course, I'm pretty sure he was one of the guys _you_ tied up, so it's only fair you took him out."

She didn't look so cute when she scowled like that. "Was _not!_" She shoved him as she got up, causing him to knock the back of his head against the ground.

"Ow..."

"Don't just lay there like a dead fish! I need to go dowse my lips in strong alcohol, and you're buying!"

"Yeah, yeah." He shuddered to think what this was going to do to his debt, but he won the battle of wills, right?

"Move it!" Or not. He found himself scrambling to his feet and jogging after her. Had her face still been red when she turned to glare at him? A stiff drink sounded pretty good right now...


	15. Drifting On Course, K

**Title:** Drifting On Course  
**Theme:** Set 4 #30 Drift  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 1088  
**Rating:** G  
**Warnings:** Nothing, really.  
**Disclaimer(s):** I wonder if they would be as much fun to play with if they _weren't_ somebody else's? I'll never know because they belong to Oda.

Nami sighed as she closed the mapmaking reference text. Traditional mapmaking techniques were often mostly useless in the strange and ever-changing Grand Line. What good was it to talk about how to indicate prevailing currents when there really weren't any?

Her minded wandered back to when they first entered the Grand Line and she'd panicked when the normal compass didn't work. Log poses were certainly interesting devices! Using one was almost second nature to her now. It was a little disturbing to think that the fragile glass ball on her wrist was all that stood between her crew and a slow death, drifting aimlessly in the open ocean.

Deciding she didn't like the dark direction her thoughts were taking, she decided to head out on deck for a little company. The first person she came across was Zoro. Talk about drifting aimlessly! She wondered what could possibly be the cause of the swordsman's utter lack of a sense of direction.

It took him a little longer than she thought it might for him to notice her staring.

"What?" He didn't sound too terribly annoyed, so maybe she could get him to answer a few questions.

"Is one of your legs significantly longer than the other?"

"_What?_"

"Everyone has one leg that's a little longer. I was just wondering if that might be part of your problem with drifting off course," she explained. "So, is one longer?"

"No that I've noticed." He was giving her an odd look. "How would that even affect anything?"

"I'll show you." She walked over to stand on the opposite side of the deck from him. "Close your eyes and try to walk toward me in a straight line. Since you can't rely on your eyes to maintain direction, you'll naturally start to turn in the direction of your shorter leg."

"Okay..." He didn't sound convinced, but he closed his eyes and walked across the deck-_directly to her._ "It didn't work."

"It _should_ have." Nami frowned. She'd tried this out many times after she'd first heard about it, and every time she did, she wound up veering off slightly to the left. Then she'd measured her legs and the left one _was_ shorter, so she knew it was true. "Maybe you got lucky. Try again."

She moved back across the deck, and he started heading straight for her again!

"Are your eyes really closed?" she accused, hands on her hips.

"Yes." Zoro glared right back. "Don't blame me just because you're wrong."

"I'm _not_ wrong! It's true!"

"Fine!" Zoro took the bandana off his arm and tied it over his eyes. "I'll prove it."

Nami was dumbfounded when he began heading in a straight line once more. Only Zoro would manage to actually go the right way when he shouldn't be able to do so...

Out of curiosity, she moved to get a side view of his stride, wondering if she could figure out how he was managing the feat. Just then, he began to turn, and she felt vindicated until she realized he was aiming for her new position. She moved again, and he changed course to keep heading in her direction.

"See?" He said, finally standing in front of her. "I walked straight to you."

"Way to go," she congratulated him sarcastically, "only I'm not standing in the place I started out! You _have_ to be peeking!"

"I wouldn't cheat!" He seemed genuinely offended at the very idea.

"All right." She pointed him in the direction of the railing. "How many clouds are there off the port side?" She spotted five.

"How should I know? Three?" She should have figured that would be his guess. He could be faking, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"I'm going to point you in the direction of something, and I want you try walking in a straight line to _that._"

Zoro gave a grunt of acknowledgement, and she pointed him toward the opposite side of the deck, the longest available straight line from their current position. He hadn't even made it halfway before he managed to wind up completely turned around and headed back toward her.

This was just ridiculous! When someone said a person was _attracted_ to another, it wasn't generally meant in the literal sense. In this case, however, there didn't appear to be any denying that Zoro was somehow drawn to her. She held out a hand and stopped him before he could run into her.

"I don't suppose you walked past me?" His tone was doubtful enough that she didn't bother answering.

"No offense," Nami told him, "but this is pretty weird, even for _your_ messed up directional sense."

He shrugged. "I don't get it, either. I somehow manage to find my way to where I really need to be most of the time, though."

"True enough, I suppose." It was-he certainly managed to find his way to her when she needed his help on more than one occasion. "Do you really _need_ to be with _me_ right now?" she asked with a teasing grin.

"Hey, you came to me first!" He smirked right back. "Besides, when you're around you kind of _are_ my sense of direction, so it sort of makes sense."

She almost made a comment about that seeming like a pretty one-sided deal, but when she thought about it, if anything, _she_ was probably the one who benefited more from having the swordsman around. It was nice to know he felt like he needed her, too. However, she couldn't resist the opening he'd just given her.

"Are you _actually_ admitting you don't know where you're going on your own?"

"No! I meant, you know, you're our navigator, so you tell all of us where to go!"

"_Sure_ you did..." He was just too much fun to torment sometimes, and that indignant face was _almost_ adorable! Just one more reason to keep him around...


	16. Divine Intervention, K plus

**Title:** Divine Intervention  
**Theme:** Set 4 #7 God  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 1151  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warnings:** Very mild swearing, sort of religious themes. Spoilers through Thriller Bark.  
**Disclaimer(s):** Oda owns them, that lucky dog...  
**A/N:** I mean no offense to anyone. I know religion can be a touchy subject. However, if you read or watched Skypiea and that didn't offend you enough to turn you off of One Piece, this is certainly no worse.

Zoro frowned at his surroundings in confusion. The last thing he remembered, he was on Thriller Bark, about to take on Luffy's pain. Now he was someplace very strange... In all directions, all he could see was white. There was no discernable horizon or any other indications of the size of the space, and there was no sensation of the ground beneath his feet, but he wasn't falling. Had he passed out from the pain? Was this some kind of strange dream? Was he...

"You're not dead."

The voice came from behind him. He whirled around to find a man standing there, though Zoro was certain he hadn't been there before. He blinked and narrowed his eyes at the stranger. Besides the fact that he had appeared out of nowhere, there was something off about his appearance. A moment's study revealed that the man's face was constantly changing. The features flowed and changed randomly, leaving no lasting impression.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Does it really matter?" the stranger countered with a casual shrug.

"Where am I?"

"You're in the midst of what is commonly referred to as a 'near death experience.'"

"So, what the hell are you doing in _my_ near death experience?"

"This is one of the rare opportunities I have to connect with people."

"Are you trying to tell me you're _God?_" Zoro scoffed. "Sorry. I don't believe in God."

"I know. You don't have to. That's called 'free will.'"

"You don't act very godly." The last person Zoro had encountered that claimed to be a deity was far more showy.

"Can't I act however I want?"

"You're kind of a know it all, too." This weirdo's casual attitude was starting to get on his nerves.

"Well, it sort of comes with the omnipotent territory." The stranger smirked and chuckled to himself. Was that a joke? "You must realize that I have a sense of humor," the man answered his unspoken question a second time. "You've been to the island where Gaimon lives, haven't you?" Zoro stared at him blankly. "The box man?"

"In that case, your sense of humor is pretty twisted." Zoro turned back around and resumed scanning his surroundings. "I can't wait until I wake up from this messed up dream or hallucination or whatever..."

"If it makes you feel any better, you won't remember any of this when you wake up."

"Why are you still bothering me?" He scowled at the man that he absolutely refused to refer to, even if only in his mind, as God.

"I like you," he answered simply. "In the grand scheme of things, with all actions considered, you are, relatively speaking, a good man. Your crew, too. You've done good things, whether they were your original intentions or not."

"Yeah well, I don't think any of us are all that religious."

"Not with any consistency," the stranger agreed. "One of them is praying right now, though."

"Oh yeah?" Zoro asked incredulously. "_Who?_"

"Nami. Like the majority of people, she has a tendency to only pray when she wants something, but I don't mind in this case, since her request is an unselfish one."

"What's she praying for?" He couldn't stop himself from asking-he was curious what the navigator might want that didn't have to do with herself.

"Not what," the man corrected him, "_who._ You, actually."

"No she isn't." The retort was automatic, but there was a small part of him that secretly liked the idea that she cared about him enough to resort to something as desperate as praying.

"She doesn't need to worry," the stranger continued, ignoring Zoro's denial. "It's not your time, yet."

"Swell," Zoro droned sarcastically. "At least I won't have to see _you_ again, until my next brush with death."

"Yeah, I'll see you soon."

"Is that another joke?" Zoro felt his hackles rise.

"You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?" With that parting remark, the man vanished as suddenly as he'd appeared, and the strange white place began to spiral into darkness.

* * *

Zoro bit back a groan as he forced his eyelids open. Everything hurt. His mind felt fuzzy, like he'd been asleep for a long time, and he suspected Chopper had medicated him.

There was an odd weight on his chest, and he dragged his gaze from the stone ceiling overhead to his own body. Nami was next to the bed, her elbows on the edge of it. Her wrists and joined hands rested on his heavily bandaged torso. Her head was bowed forward, forehead resting on her intertwined fingers, and her eyes were closed.

"Are you _praying?_" His voice was raspy and much weaker than he would have liked. Speaking hurt, too.

Nami jumped at the sound of his voice and sat straight up in her seat. She gaped at him silently for a moment before she schooled her face into a disapproving frown. "I was just resting my eyes! I've been sitting up all night watching you! You should be ashamed-scaring all of us like that... What's _wrong_ with you?"

She gave his chest a light, open-handed slap, and he flinched despite himself. All the color drained from her face, and she bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes. Without warning, she dove forward, pressing the side of her face to the middle of his chest, her ear resting directly over his heartbeat. Her hands were bunched into tight fists. Now all he could see was the top of her head.

"You're awake now, so I guess you're going to be okay." Her voice was choked, but he knew better than to acknowledge it. "I'm going to take a nap, and you might as well too because Chopper says you're not allowed up until he gives you permission."

Zoro felt like he ought to do _something_ to comfort her, but he couldn't think of anything that wouldn't make him feel stupid or make her angry. He settled for saying, "I'm not going _anywhere._ Even if I do, I'll always find my way back."

"You'd better," she mumbled. Her fists relaxed, the tension in her shoulders disappeared, and Zoro realized she was asleep.

Even though it hurt and took a ridiculous amount of effort, Zoro dragged one hand over to rest on her back in a gesture he hadn't been willing to make while she was conscious. As his own eyes began to drift closed, for a brief moment he thought he saw a very vaguely familiar figure watching them. He shrugged it off as a trick of tired eyes.


	17. Only Fair, K plus

**Title:** Only Fair  
**Theme:** Set 4 #4 Pie  
**Claim:** Zoro x Nami  
**Words:** 1563  
**Rating:** PG?  
**Warnings:** Implied violence, awkwardness  
**Disclaimer(s):** I'd ask for the rights for Christmas, but that's very unlikely to happen. As such, everything and everyone you recognize is the intellectual property of Oda. (Except maybe mikans-he didn't invent those.)

Zoro insisted that he didn't want or need a special dessert for his birthday. However, he was obviously not the only person with a birthday, and Luffy declared it a crew tradition. Trying to refuse Luffy never went well for anyone, and Zoro was especially weak against "Captain's orders." No one could understand why he put up such a fight every year.

Backed into a corner, literally and figuratively, Zoro insisted that he didn't want a dessert that was overly sweet. Despite several complaints from various crew members that were _not_ Zoro, Sanji insisted he could manage something everyone would like. He was aided greatly by the fact that Nami offered the use of a freshly harvested batch of mikans and decided upon an orange custard pie with meringue to balance the slight tartness of the pie without being overwhelmingly sweet.

Every birthday since Brook's joining the crew had been celebrated with various kinds of sheet cake, so no one saw the eventual problem coming-it's extremely difficult to cut a pie into nine equal pieces. The extra tenth piece sat temptingly in the pie pan, awaiting either a unanimous decision, or the more likely event of someone simply deciding to sneak off with it when no one else was looking. It remained uneaten as everyone headed off to bed, except for Nami, who had a bit of charting she wanted to finish, and Zoro, who opted to take the first night watch.

* * *

Zoro let his mind drift as he sprawled half-asleep in the crow's nest. He wasn't completely out because he never _really_ slept on his watch, except maybe once or twice... Maybe he should head to the galley and get himself some coffee or something.

For some reason, he kept thinking about that last piece of pie. Much as he hated to compliment the cook unless he _had_ to, it truly had been a delicious dessert. If that extra piece was left for too long, it was bound to be eaten by the captain, and extra sugar was one of the _last_ things Luffy needed! He'd really be doing everyone else a favor if he ate it, and it _was_ made for his birthday. It was only fair.

* * *

Nami knew she'd spent more time working than she had initially intended. While Robin _might_ still be up reading, she felt bad about slipping in so late. The archeologist was a light sleeper, a result of spending most of her life on the run. Maybe there was something she could do that would help her put off disturbing her roommate's sleep a little longer?

For some reason, she thought of the last piece of pie. She hadn't thought she was still hungry, but her mouth watered at the thought of the confection. They never had decided what they were going to do with it. It would be silly to let a fight break out over something as petty as who got the last piece of pie. She'd really be doing everyone a favor if she took care of the issue, and it _was_ made from her own mikans. It was only fair.

* * *

Nami flipped the switch to turn on the galley lights to find Zoro squinting in the sudden brightness, pie plate in hand.

"Nami? What are you doing up?"

"Why are you in here in the dark?"

They stared each other down for a moment.

"I was up late working on some maps, and I thought I'd get a quick snack before bed."

"I didn't see any reason to turn the lights on when I didn't really need them."

Nami pointed at the pie plate accusingly. "Or _maybe_ you didn't want anyone to know you were taking the last piece of pie."

"Why should I hide it?" Zoro countered. "It _was_ made for my birthday, right?" He narrowed his eyes at her. "You probably just wanted it for yourself."

"That pie wouldn't even _be_ here if I hadn't let Sanji use my mikans."

They glared at one another for a few more long moments.

"I got here first," Zoro finally declared.

"So? You haven't actually eaten it yet, so it's fair game." Nami strode over to stand directly in front of Zoro, the piece of pie between them. Never breaking eye contact, she leaned forward and darted her tongue out, licking a portion of the meringue.

"Please," Zoro scoffed. "You think I'm afraid of a little spit?" He stuck his right index finger in the pie, mouth pulled into a smirk of challenge.

"You know what's great about this kind of pie?" Nami asked with blatantly false sweetness, a smugly triumphant expression on her own features. "Whatever your finger is touching will just stick to it." She grabbed the plate and pulled it out of Zoro's left hand, leaving him with a bit of custard and meringue on his finger and a rather amusing shocked expression on his face. He reached for the plate, but Nami slid it behind her back.

"Fine," he grumbled grudgingly. "I didn't really need a second piece anyway." He looked at his finger and shrugged. "At least I get this much of it."

Nami had no idea what possessed her to do it, but the next thing she knew, she had her mouth over Zoro's finger. If she thought he'd looked shocked before, it was _nothing_ compared to now!

"What... You just... _Why?_" Zoro was starting look a little panicky.

"Um..." Nami was having trouble answering for two reasons. First, Zoro's finger was still in her mouth. Second, how could she explain why she did something if _she_ didn't even know! The extremely awkward moment was broken by a sound neither expected to hear-the tell-tale clink of a teacup settling onto its saucer.

Nami took a step back, and they both turned their heads simultaneously to find Brook sitting across the room with a cup of tea. There was another lengthy moment of silence.

"How long have you been over there?" Zoro eventually managed to ask.

"Sometimes I have a little trouble sleeping, and I find a nice cup of tea to be very soothing. Tonight was such a night, so I came here for some assistance in making my eyelids heavy, though I have none!" The skeleton stopped himself just before his usual crow of "skull joke!" Perhaps he had picked up on the fact that embarrassed shock had quickly given way to budding anger on the part of both other occupants of the room. "I was already here when Zoro first came into the galley," the musician finished his explanation. "Don't let me interrupt you. By all means, carry on as you were. Pretend I'm not even here."

"Zoro," Nami began in a dangerously calm tone, "we'll finish our discussion about the pie later."

"When we don't have an audience?" he asked, voice equally deadpan.

"Yes," she agreed, "when we don't have an audience."

If Brook still had skin on his face, one might have seen an expression of alarmed realization as Nami and Zoro closed in on him.

* * *

Sanji was surprised to find Nami and Zoro sitting in the galley together when he came in to start preparing breakfast. Each had a small plate and fork in front of them, and they were both finishing what appeared to be cups of tea. He noticed next that the pie was gone.

"So, you finished off the pie?" he asked casually.

"Yes. We decided to split it," Zoro informed him.

"Zoro's half was a little bigger, but he let me have his meringue." Sanji's expression must have looked rather skeptical about the fact that the two seemed to be getting along so well because Nami continued, "We can both be mature, reasonable people."

"Absolutely," Zoro agreed. "It was only fair."

_Okay..._ Sanji decided not to pry any further. He did take note of one more thing, however. "I'm a little surprised Brook's not in here, since you're having tea." His comment received no response.

* * *

Outside, Chopper was trotting across the deck to do some organizing in the infirmary before breakfast when he heard an odd sound from the large tree with the swing. He froze and was torn for a moment between fleeing and investigating. The noise had almost sounded pained, but what if it was a monster or an enemy? Deciding to be brave, he moved a little closer and peered up into the foliage.

"_Brook?_ What happened? Somebody call a doctor! Oh wait, that's me..." The skeleton was contorted into an odd knot of lanky limbs and precariously perched in the very uppermost branches of the tree. Chopper couldn't begin to imagine how he'd come to be in such a state and location!

"The fly on the wall must take care not to be seen or heard," the skeleton mumbled cryptically.


End file.
